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BOSWELL'S LIFE OF 
SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



AN ABRIDGMENT 



WITH ANNOTATIONS BY THE EMINENT BIOGRAPHERS 
AND AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 

BY 

MARY H. WATSON, A.M. 

De Witt Clinton High School 
New York City 



Nefo fjjforfe 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1913 

A 11 rights reserved 



3 4 



Copyright, 19 13, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1913. 



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Uo 



Dk. CHARLES H. J. DOUGLAS 

UNDER WHOSE DIGNIFIED, SCHOLARLY AND 

INSPIRING DIRECTION THIS WORK 

WAS FIRST PLANNED 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction xi 

Bibliography xv 

Chronological Table xvii 

Life of Johnson 1 

Notes 351 



L 



INTRODUCTION 



The following abridgment has been prepared with the aim 
of transferring Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson from the 
reference shelf to the student's hands, of making it for him 
something more than " a book to browse on," or a mere adjunct 
to the essays of Macaulay and Carlyle. The third, or less, of 
the original here presented is, therefore, not a series of hastily 
culled " selections. " Every sacrifice of Boswell's text has been 
made with the intention of offending as little as possible those 
who look upon his work as a touchstone. That the " talk " 
should remain intact, or nearly so, was the first consideration, 
otherwise that the original proportions should be preserved. 
Boswell's freedom from the tyranny of the modern paragraph 
becomes so conspicuous after abridgment that a feeling for 
consistency stands with sentiment for retaining some of his 
antiquated spelling, especially those forms that Dr. Johnson 
himself favored. Nothing, fortunately, in the life of him who 
" ever discouraged obscenity and impiety " calls for expurgation, 
and the editor believes that cautious excision has left for the 
student most of the significant allusions to men, books, and 
politics of the time as well as to Johnson's friends, household, 
publishers, and clubs. Through the courtesy of Messrs. Harper 
and Brothers it has been possible to refer unstintedly to the 
magnificent work of Dr. George Birbeck Hill. The foreign 
phrases, though very simple, have been translated; but general 
remarks on eighteenth century life and manners, such as are 
now common in other school classics, and information to be 
found in the dictionary or ready-reference books has been 
excluded from the notes; for their theme, is Johnson. 



xil INTRODUCTION 

Those who have found contact with the mind of Dr. Johnson 
one of the most fascinating of literary experiences eagerly tell 
us that it is also one of the most educating of human experi- 
ences. Piety, filial honor, a passion for discrimination, an un- 
willingness to compromise on matters of principle, indomitable 
personal pride coupled with the sweetest generosity, intolerance 
of sham and " sets of words," — even the bigotry with which to 
face the bigotry of the latest cry, — these things made that 
singularly impressive unity of mind and character. Who else 
— to use the words of Sir Joshua Reynolds — can so surely as 
Dr. Johnson clear one's mind of rubbish and teach one to think 
justly? 

For Boswell, of whom something must be said in an Intro- 
duction, the student should read Carlyle's book on Heroes 
and the correspondence with Temple — if he can find it; but 
he should be led to see that, as Mr. Mowbray Morris says, 
"Johnson's attitude to Boswell is at once the best explanation 
of his character and his worth." Were that attitude borne in 
mind, there would be less wonder how the "flunky," upon 
whom far cleverer persons have so grudgingly bestowed their 
magnanimity, could have written one of the great books of 
modern days. It but emphasizes the classic truth : Enduring 
art makes its way by convictions rather than by conciliations. 
" He would not change his tiger into a cat to please anybody ! " 
How much shrewder, even as a bid for fame, his devotion to 
one majestic being than the desire to please a host of the second 
rate ! This the lovers of the obvious, of whom Macaulay is the 
chief, have failed to see. Boswell spared himself even less than 
he spared his master, and admits the fact with so much sin- 
cerity and candor in the Dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds 
that one feels ashamed of the easy criticism which could pro- 
duce : " All the caprices of his temper, all the illusions of his 
vanity, all the hypochondriac whimsies, all his castles in the air, 
he displayed with a cool complacency, a perfect unconscious- 
ness that he was making a fool of himself, to which it is im- 
possible to find a parallel in the whole history of mankind." 
Such an attitude, Edmund Gosse almost too mildly says, indi- 
cates " something incomprehensible " in the critic's u capacity." 
Boswell was not " a man of the meanest and feeblest intellect " ; 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

he was, no doubt, sensual and vain, but, fond though he was of 
a "toot on a new horn, ,, never vulgar. His fame he achieved 
through Johnson, " but the fact," says Gosse, " has been insisted 
upon until his own genius and peculiarities have been unduly 
overlooked." Plainly, all recent criticism is disposed to make 
amends. 

Boswell was born on the family estate of Auchinleck in 1740, 
schooled in Edinborough, prepared for the law in Glasgow. 
Events of importance subsequent to his meeting with Johnson 
in 1763 are mentioned in the Life. After Johnson's death he kept 
a residence in London, maintained a prominent place in the 
Literary Club, and was made Foreign Secretary of the Royal 
Academy. He died in London in 1795, and was buried at 
Auchinleck. His correspondence with Temple was published 
in 1857, and his Commonplace Book — " Boswelliana " — in 1874. 



A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF WORKS CONCERNING DR. JOHNSON 

1774. Campbell's Lexiphanes. 

1781. The Beauties of Johnson. 

1782. The Deformities of Johnson. 

1785. Johnson's Prayers and Meditations, published by- 

George Strahan. 
Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. 

1786. Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson 

During the Last Twenty Years of his Life. 

1787. Sir John Hawkins's Life of Samuel Johnson. 

1788. Mrs. Piozzi's Letters to and from the Late Samuel 

Johnson. 

1791. Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. 

1792. Murphy's Essay on the Life and Genius of Johnson. 

1793. Second edition of Boswell's Life. 

Merry's Witticisms, Anecdotes, Jests etc. of Dr. John- 
son. 

1794. Boswell's supplementary volume. 

1798. Dr. Johnson's Table Talk. 

1799. Malone's third edition of Boswell's Life. 

1804. Malone's fourth edition of Boswell's Life. 

1805. Phillips's edition of Johnson's Account of his Life from 

Birth to his Eleventh Year, with Letters to Miss Hill 
Boothby. 

1831. Croker's edition of Boswell's Life. 

Macaulay's Essay on Boswell's Life of Samuel John- 
son. 

1832. Carlyle's Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson in Frazer's 

Magazine. 
1841. (Printed) Carlyle's The Hero as Man of Letters. 
1854. The Reverend Thomas Campbell's Diary of a Visit to 

England. 



XVI 



A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY 



1856. Macaulay's Life of Samuel Johnson. 

1857. BoswelVs Correspondence with the Rev. Mr. Temple. 
1859. (Under Macaulay's supervision.) An article in Edin- 

burg Review on Campbell's Diary. 
1878. Dr. Hill's Dr. Johnson, his Friends and his Critics. 

1878. Leslie Stephens's Johnson. (English Men of Letters 

Series.) 

1879. Mason's Samuel Johnson, his Words and his Ways. 
1884. Reverend Alexander Napier's edition of Boswell's 

Life. 

1887. Dr. Hill's edition of Boswell's Life. 

1888. Dr. Hill's Wit and Wisdom of Samuel Johnson. 
1892. Dr. Hill's Letters of Samuel Johnson. 

1897. Dr. Hill's Johnsonian Miscellanies. 

1898. Austin Dobson's (in Eighteenth Century Vignettes) 

A Garret in Gough Square, and BoswelVs Predecessors 

and Editors. 
1905. Augustine Birrell's The Johnsonian Legend. 
1907. Clement K. Snorter's Immortal Memories. 

1910. Walter Raleigh's Six Essays on Johnson. 

A. M. Broadley's Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Thrale with 
The Unpublished Journal of the Tour in Wales and 
Correspondence of the Streatham Circle. 

1911. Tinker's Dr. Johnson and Fanny Burney. 

1911. Alice Meynell and G. K. Chesterton's Johnson. 

(Selections from Johnson's prose, poetry, letters, 
etc. One volume.) 
1909. Aleyn Lyell Reade's Johnsonian Gleanings. 
No. I, Dr. Johnson's Ancestors. 

1912. No. II, Francis Barber, Dr. Johnson's Negro Servant. 
No. Ill will deal with Johnson's early life. 

1913. Thraliana : by Mr. Salusbury, a descendant of Mrs. 

Thrale 's family. 
1913. Bailey's Dr. Johnson and his Circle. (Home University 
Library.) 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

OF 

JOHNSON'S LIFE AND CONTEMPORARY EVENTS 
1709-1784 



1709 


Johnson born 


The Tatler, No. I, 






Sept. 18 


Prior's Poems 




1710 






Trial of Sache- 
verell 


1711 




Pope's Essay on 
Criticism, 








The Spectator 


Hume born 






No. I 




1712 


Johnson 


Pope's Rape of 






"touched" by 


the Lock, 






Queen Anne 


Gay's Trivia 




1713 




Addison's Cato 


Sterne born 


1714 






Accession of 
George I 


1715 




Pope's transla- 
tion of the 
Iliad, Vol. I 




1716 






Gray and Garrick 
born 


1717 


Johnson sent to 


Newton's Prin- 


Horace Walpole 




Lichfield 


cipia 


born 




Grammar 








school 






1719 




Defoe's Robinson 


Addison died 






Crusoe, Part I 


[ble" 


1720 






"South Sea Bub- 


1721 






Smollett, Collins, 
and Prior born 


1723 




Pope's Odyssey 


Adam Smithborn, 
Reynolds born 



xviii CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 


1724 




Allan Ramsay's 
Evergreen and 
Tea Table Mis- 
cellany 




1725 


Johnson sent to 


Allan Ramsay's 






Stourbridge 
School 


Gentle Shepherd 




1726 


Swift's Gulliver's 








Travels and 








Thomson's 








Winter 




1727 




Gay's Fables 


Accession of George 
II. Sir Isaac 
Newton died 


1728 


Johnson entered 
Pembroke Col- 
lege, Oxford 


Pope's Dunciad 


Goldsmith born 


1729 


Johnson left Ox- 




Burke born, 




ford without a 




Steele and Con- 




degree 




greve died 


1731 


Johnson's father 


The Gentleman's 


Croker and 




died 


Magazine, No. I Churchill born, 








Defoe died 


1732 


Johnson an 


Pope's Essay on 


Gay died 




usher at Mar- 


Man. Frank- 






ket Bosworth 


lin's Poor Rich- 
ard's Almanac 




1735 


Johnson's mar- 
riage to Mrs. 
Porter. Pub- 
lication of Lo- 
bo's Voyage to 
Abyssinia 




Rob Roy died 


1736 


Johnson set up 
a private acad- 
emy at Edial. 
Wrote Irene 






1737 


Johnson and 
Garrick set out 
for London 




Gibbon born 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



xix 



1738 


Johnson be- 




Macpherson born. 




comes a regu- 




The first of the 




lar contribu- 




London Metho- 




tor to the Gen- 




dists 




tleman's Maga- 








zine. Pub- 








lishes London 






1739 




Hume's Treatise 
Of Human Na- 
ture 


Mrs. Thrale born 


1740- 


Johnson writes 


Richardson's 


Bos well born 


1743 


Parliamentary 
Reports 


Pamela 




1741 




Haendel's Mes- 




1742 




siah, Fielding's 
Joseph Andrews, 
Young's Night 
Thoughts, Shen- 
stone's School- 
mistress 




1744 


Johnson's Life 


Akenside's Pleas- 


Pope died 




of Savage 


ures of the Im- 
agination 




1745 






Swift died. 
Jacobite Rebel- 
lion 


1747 


Johnson's Plan 


Gray's Ode on a 






for a Diction- 


Distant Prospect 






ary of the Eng- 


of Eton College, 






lish Language 


Collins's Odes 






addressed to 








Lord Chester- 








field 






1748 




Richardson's Cla- 
rissa Harlowe, 


Thomson died 




S-- 


Smollett's Rod- 
erick Random, 
Thomson's Cas- 








tle of Indolence 





XX 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



1749 


Johnson's Van- 


Fielding's Tom Charles Fox born 




ity of Human 


Jones 






Wishes, Irene, 








produced by 








Garrick at 








Drury Lane 






1750 


Johnson's Ram- 
bler, No. I 






1751 




Gray's Elegy in 


R. B. Sheridan 






a Country 


born 






Churchyard 




1752 


Mrs. Johnson 




Frances Burney 




dies. The 




and Chatterton 




Rambler is dis- 




born 




continued 






1753 


Johnson con- 
tributes to 
Hawkesworth ' s 
Adventurer 






1754 




Hume's History 


Fielding died. 






of England 


Crabbe born 


1755 


Johnson re- 




The "Lisbon 




ceives degree 




Earthquake" 




of M.A. from 








Oxford. Pub- 








lished Diction- 








ary of the Eng- 








lish Language 






1756 


Johnson con- 


Burke's Vindica- 






tributes to the 


tion of Natural 






Literary Maga- 


Society, Essay 






zine 


On Sublime and 
Beautiful, 








Gray's Odes Blake born 


1757 


Johnson begins 


Sterne's Tristram Allan Ramsay 




the Idler 


Shandy died 


1758 


Johnson's Ras- 


Robertson's His- 


Burns born. 


1759 


selas. His 
mother dies 


tory of England 


Pitt born 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



XXI 



1760 


Bos well's first 


Goldsmith's Citi- 


Accession of 




visit to Lon- 


zen of the World 


George III 




don 






1761 




Churchill's Ros- 
ciad 


Richardson died 


1762 


Johnson pen- 


Macpherson's 


Lady Montagu 




sioned £300 a 


Ossian 


died 




year 






1763 


Johnson and 


Lady Montagu's 






Boswell meet 


Letters, Smart's 
Song to David 




1764 


The • Literary 


Goldsmith's 


Hogarth died 




Club founded 


Traveller, Wal- 
pole's Castle of 
Otranto, Chat- 
terton's Elinour 
and Juga 
Percy's Reliques 




1765 


Johnson receives 


Stamp Act. 




degree of 


of Ancient 


Young died. > 




LL.D. from 


Poetry 


Steam engine 




Trinity Col- 




invented 




lege, Dublin. 








Publishes his 








edition of 








Shakespeare. 








Meets the 








Thrales 






1766 




Goldsmith's Vicar 


Repeal of Stamp 






of Wakefield 


Act 


1767 


Johnson's con- 




Maria Edgeworth 




versation with 




born 




George III 


Sterne's Senti- 




1768 




mental Journey, 
Goldsmith's 
Good-Natured 
Man, Gray's 
Poems. Bos- 
well's Account 
of Corsica 


Sterne died 



XX11 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



1769 




The first Letters 


Napoleon and 






of Junius, Rob- 


Wellington born 






ertson's History 








of Charles V, 








Burke's Obser- 








vations on the 








Present State of 








the Nation 




1770 


Johnson's False 


Goldsmith's De- 


Wordsworth born. 




Alarm 


serted Village, 
Burke's 
Thoughts on the 
Present Discon- 


Chatterton died 






tents 




1771 




Smollett's Hum- 


Walter Scott born. 






phrey Clinker, 


Gray died. 






Beat tie's Min- 


Smollett died 






strel 




1772 




Sir Joshua Rey- 


Coleridge born. 






nolds's Dis- 


Swedenborg died 






courses 




1773 


Johnson visits 


Goldsmith's She 


"Boston Tea 




Scotland with 


Stoops to Con- 


Party" 




Boswell 


quer. Fergus- 
son's Poems 




1774 


Johnson visits 


Burke's Speech 


Southern born. 




Wales with 


on American 


Goldsmith died 




Mr. and Mrs. 


Taxation, 






Thrale 


Chesterfield's 
Letters to his 
Son, Warton's 
History of Eng- 
lish Poetry, I 




1775 


Johnson re- 


Burke's Speech 


Jane Austen born. 




ceives the de- 


on Conciliation 


Landor born. 




gree of D.C.L. 


with America, 


Lamb born. 




from Oxford. 


Sheridan's Ri- 


Bunker Hill 




Publishes Tax- 


vals 






ation no Tyr- 








anny and 










CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



xxill 





Journey to the 








Western Is- 








lands of Scot- 




„ 




land. He 








visits France 








with Mr. and 








Mrs. Thrale 






1776 




Gibbon's Decline 


Hume died. 






and Fall of the Ro- 


Declaration of 






man Empire, I. 


Independence 






Adam Smith's 








Wealth of Na- 








tions 




1777 




Sheridan's School 


Campbell born. 






for Scandal, 


Burgoyne's sur- 






Robertson's His- 


render 






tory of America 




1778 




Frances Burney's 


Hazlitt born. 






Evelina 


Hallam born. 
Voltaire died. 
Chatham died 


1779 


Johnson's Lives 
of the Poets, 
first four vol- 
umes 




Garrick died 


1780 




The Gordon 
Riots 




1781 


Johnson com- 
pletes the 
Lives of the 
Poets. Mr. 
Thrale dies 






1782 




Frances Burney's 
Cecilia 


Webster born 


1783 


Johnson 


Crabbe's Village, 


Irving born. 




stricken by 


Blake's Poeti- 


Peace with 




paralysis. He 


cal Sketches 


America 




founds a new 








club at the 








Essex Head 







XXIV 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



1784 Johnson's 

friends at- 
tempt to raise 
a fund which 
shall pay for a 
comfortable 
winter in Italy. 
Johnson visits 
Lichfield, Ash- 
bourne, andOx- 
ford. He dies 
at Bolt Court 
December 13 



BOSWELL'S LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON 



\ 



THE LIFE OF 

SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

To write the Life of him who excelled all mankind in writing 
the lives of others, and who, whether we consider his extraor- 
dinary endowments, or his various works, has been equalled 
by few in any age, is an arduous, and may be reckoned in me 
a presumptuous task. 5 

Had Dr. Johnson written his own Life, in conformity with 
the opinion which he has given, that every man's life may be 
best written by himself ; had he employed in the preservation 
of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of 
language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, 10 
the world would probably have had the most perfect example 
of biography that was ever exhibited. But although he at 
different times, in a desultory manner, committed to writing 
many particulars of the progress of his mind and fortunes, he 
never had persevering diligence enough to form them into a 15 

! regular composition. Of these memorials a few have been 
preserved ; but the greater part was consigned by him to the 
flames, a few days before his death. 

As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friend- 
ship for upwards of twenty years; as I had the scheme of 20 
writing his life constantly in view ; as he was well apprised of 
this circumstance, and from time to time obligingly satisfied 
my enquiries, by communicating to me the incidents of his 

v early years ; als I was very assiduous in recording his conver- 
sation, of which the extraordinary vigour and vivacity con- 25 
stituted one. of the first features of* his character ; and as 
I have spared no pains in obtaining materials concerning 

B 1 



2 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

him, and have been favoured with the most liberal communi- 
cations by his friends ; I natter myself that few biographers 
have entered upon such a work as this, with more advantages, 
independent of literary abilities, in which I am not vain 
5 enough to compare myself with some great names who have 
gone before me in this kind of writing. 

Instead of melting down my materials into one mass, 
wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and 
supply, I furnish it ; but in the chronological series of John- 

10 son's life, I produce his own minutes, letters, or conversation, 
being convinced that this mode is more lively. There is here 
an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by which 
his character is more fully understood and illustrated. 

And he will be seen as he really was ; for I profess to write, 

15 not his panegyrick, which must be all praise, but his Life ; 
which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be 
entirely perfect. 

What I consider as the peculiar value of the following work 
is the quantity it contains of Johnson's conversation ; wHiSk 

20 is universally acknowledged to have been eminently instru#-: 
tive and entertaining. 

That the conversation of a celebrated man, if his talents 
have been exerted in conversation, will best display his 
character, is well established in the judgement of mankind. 

25 If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince 
of ancient biographers. "Nor is it always in the most dis- 
tinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be 
best discerned ; but very often an action of small note, a short 
saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character 

30 more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles." 

To this may be added the sentiments of the very man whose 

life I am about to exhibit. "The business of the biographer 

is often to pass slightly over those performances and incidents 

which produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into 

35 domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily 
life, where exteriour appendages are cast aside, and men 
excel each other only by prudence and by virtue. 






t 



TS LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 3 



" All ; ;pa and enterprises of De Witt are now of less 

importa « th<p world than that part of his personal char- 

acter w'] presents him as careful of his health, and negli- 

gent of 1 

"But phy nas often been allotted to writers, who 5 

imagine the lvos writing a life, when they exhibit a chron- 
olo°ical s of actions' or preferments. More knowledge 

may be gai }f & man's real character, by a short conversa- 
tion with ' his servants, than from a formal and studied 
narrative in with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral. 10 

" We kno v how few can pourtray a living acquaintance, 
except by hi most prominent and observable particularities, 
and the grosser features of his mind; and it may be easily 
imagined h< v much of this little knowledge may. be lost in 
imparting d how soon a succession of copies will lose 15 

all resemb )f the original." 

Having sa i : thus much by way of introduction, I commit 
the follow ;es to the candour of the Publick. 

Samuel Johnsoj was born at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, 
on the 18th ot September, 1709 ; and his baptism is recorded 20 
on the da^ 1 birth. His father was Michael Johnson a 

native of hire, of obscure extraction wl 

Lichfield 1 \ ->ookseller and - loner. Mis mot! 
Sarah Fon 

DC 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSOjy 



"a place to which good people went," and h< 
which bad people went/' communicated to hii 
a little child in bed with her ; and that it njg] 
fixed in his memory, she sent him to repeal 
5 Jackson, their man-servant. 

There is a traditional story of the infant H 
ism, so curiously characteristick, that I $ha 
it: — 

"When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, J I 
10 quite three years old. Mr. Hammond obsei 
cathedral perched upon his father's shoulde 
gaping at the muchr celebrated preacher, asl 
how he could possibly think of bringing si 
church, and in the midst of so great a crowc 
15 because it was impossible to keep him at li \i 
as he was, he believed he had caught the p 
zeal for Sacheverel, and would have staic 
church, satisfied with beholding him." 
One day, when the servant who used :o 
20 to conduct him home, had not come* in "tii 
himself, though he was then so near-si^h 
obliged to stoop down on his hands and tn 
of th k< oriel ° before he ventured to step o^ 
t he might miss his wa 
art folio wee 



place to 
3r, when 
le bettei 
Thomas 

of tory- 
withholc 

was nai 

m at the. 

ning anc 

Johnsor 

infant tc 

answered 

or, young 

spirit anc 

r er in the 

to school 
set out by 
at he was 
ake a view 
His school- 
all into the 
tt some dis- 
her. Feel- 
^° he rar 



'. '.. J '.".' -.. . . • ■ 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 5 

lied ; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have 
d it more than twice. 

Another story of his infant precocity I am to refute upon 
own authority. It is told, that, when a child of three 
,rs old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh 5 
a brood, and killed it ; upon which, he dictated to his 
ther the following epitaph : — 

" Here lies good master duck, 

Whom Samuel Johnson trod on ; 

If it had liv'd, it had been good luck, 10 

For then we'd had an odd one." 

lis mother, yielding to the superstitious notion as to the 
yue of the regal touch, carried him to London, where he 
3 touched by Queen Anne.° Being asked if he could re- 
mber Queen Anne, — "He had (he said) a confused, but 15 
lehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds 
i a long black hood." 

le was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a 
low, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He 
i me she could read the black letter, and asked him to 20 
■row for her, from his father, a bible in that character, 
len he was going to Oxford, she brought him, in the sim- 
;ity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he 
s the best scholar she ever had. He delighted in mention- 

this early compliment: adding, with smile, that " this 25 
3 as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive." 
Ie began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under- 
ster of Lichfield school, "a man (said he) very skilful in his 
le way." Mr. Hunter, the headmaster, according to his 
: ount, "was very severe, and wrong-headedly severe. He 30 
not distinguish between ignorance and negligence ; for he 
uld beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neg- 
ting to know it. For instance, he would call up a boy and 
- i him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not 
xoect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every 35 
■ estion, there would be no need of a master to teach him." 



u 



6 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Mr. Langton asked him how he had acquired so accurat 
a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceedec 
by no man of his time ; he said, "My master whipt me ven 
well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing. 
5 While Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to 
say, "And this I do to save you from the gallows"." Johnson, 
upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing 
instruction by means of the rod. "A child is afraid of being 
whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't ; whereas 

10 by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you 
make brothers and sisters hate each other." 

When Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who 
were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict 
discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one c 

15 Shakespeare's lines a little varied, 

''Rod, I will honour thee for this thy duty." 
Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe ; he only did nc 
stoop. He was from the beginning, *Ai/a£ av8p<hv, a king oi 
men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has assured me that h 

20 never knew him corrected at school, but for talking an &' divert 
ing other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by 
intuition ; . for though indolence and procrastination wer ■ 
inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion 
he did more than any one else. 

25 Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the schoc I 
of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire. He thus discriminated hi 
progress at his two grammar-schools. "At one, I learned 
much in the school, but little from the master; in thfc 
other, I learned much from the master, but little in the school." 

30 The two years which he spent at home, after his return fron 
Stourbridge, he passed in what he thought idleness, and wa 3 
scolded by his father for his want of steady application H 
used to mention one curious instance of his casual reading 
when but a bov. Having imagined that his brother had hid 

35 some apples behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in hi: 
father's shop, he climbed up to search for them. There wer< 
no apples ; but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom n< 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 7 

[had seen mentioned, in some preface, as one of the restorers 
of learning. His curiosity having been thus excited, he sat 
ydown with avidity, and read a great part of the book. What 
/he read during these two years, he told me, was not works of 
f mere amusement, "not voyages and travels, but all litera- 5 
ture, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly: though but little 
> Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hesiod : but in this irregu- 
lar manner (added he) I had looked into a great many books, 
which were not commonly known at the Universities, where 
they seldom read any books but what are put into their 10 
hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr. 
Adams, now master of Pembroke College, told me, I was the 
best qualified for the University that he had ever known 
come - there." 

The Reverend Dr. Adams gave me some account of what 15 
passed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. His 
father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found means to 
have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. 
/ His father seemed very full of the merits of his son, and told 
\ the company he was a good scholar, and a poet, and wrote 20 
Latin verses. His figure and manner appeared strange to 
them; but he behaved modestly, and sat silent, till upon 
something which occurred in the course of conversation, he 
suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius. 

Mr. Jorden "was a very worthy man, but a heavy man, 25 
and I did not profit much by his instructions. Indeed, I 
did not attend him much. The first day after I came to 
college, I waited upon him, and then staid away four. On the 
sixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I 
answered, I had been sliding in Christ-Church meadow. And 30 
this I said with as much nonchalance as I am now talking to 
you. I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my 
tutor.'' Boswell. "That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind." 
Johnson. "No, Sir, stark insensibility." He had a love 
and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, but for his 35 
worth. "Whenever (said he) a young man becomes Jorden's 
pupil, he becomes his son." 



8 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

While he was at Lichfield, in the college vacation of the 
year 1729, he felt himself overwhelmed with an horrible 
hypochondria, with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and im- 
patience; and with a dejection, gloom, and despair, which 
5 made existence misery. 

" Sunday (said he) was a heavy day to me when I was a 
boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made me 
read 'The Whole Duty of Man/° from a great part of which 
I could derive no instruction. When, for instance, I had 

10 read the chapter on theft, which from my infancy I had been 
taught was wrong, I was no more convinced that theft was 
wrong than before ; so there was no accession of knowledge. 
A boy should be introduced to such books by having his 
attention directed to the arrangement, to the style,- and 

15 other excellencies of composition ; that the mind being thus 
engaged by an amusing variety of objects may not grow 
weary. " 

"I fell into an inattention to religion, or an indifference 
about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in which 

20 we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a 
seat in other churches; and having bad eyes, and being 
awkward about this, I \ised to go and read in the fields on 
Sunday. This habit continued till my fourteenth year; I 
then became a sort of lax talker against religion, for I did 

25 not much think against it ; and this lasted till I went to 
Oxford, where it would not be suffered. When at Oxford, I 
took up Law's 'Serious Call to a Holy Life/ expecting to 
find it a dull book, (as such books generally are), and per- 
haps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch 

30 for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in 
earnest of religion." From this time forward religion was the 
predominant object of his thoughts. 

He told me, that from his earliest years he loved to read 
poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to an end; that he 

35 read Shakspeare at a period so early, that the speech of the 
Ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone; that 
Horace's Odes were the compositions in which he took most 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 9 

delight, and it was long before he liked his Epistles and 
Satires. He told me what he read solidly at Oxford was 
Greek ; not the Grecian historians, but Homer and Euripides 
and now and then a little Epigram ; that the study of which 
he was the most fond was Metaphysicks. 5 

His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon the 
second floor over the gateway. The enthusiast of learning 
will ever contemplate it with veneration. One day, while 
he was sitting in it quite alone, the master of the College 
overheard him uttering this soliloquy in his strong emphatick 10 
voice: "Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other 
places of learning. I'll go and visit the Universities abroad. 
I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua. And I'll mind 
my business. For an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all 
blockheads." 15 

He was then depressed by poverty, and irritated by dis- 
ease. "Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness 
which they mistook for frolick. I was miserably poor, and 
I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit ; so 
I disregarded all power and all authority." 20 

I have heard from some of his contemporaries that he was 
generally seen lounging at the College gate, with a circle of 
young students round him, whom he was entertaining with 
wit, and keeping from their studies, if not spiriting them up 
to rebellion against the College discipline, which in his 25 
maturer years he so much extolled. 

He very early began a diary of his life. Oct. 1729. "De- 
sidice valedixi; syrenis istius cantibus surdam posthac aurem 
obversurus. — I bid farewell to Sloth, being resolved hence- 
forth not to listen to her syren strains." 30 

Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many 
of the sons of Pembroke were poets ; adding, with a smile of 
sportive triumph, "Sir, we are a nest of singing birds." He 
was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of 
his own college. Taylor had obtained his father's consent 35 
to be entered of Pembroke, that he might be with his school- 
fellow. This would have been a great comfort to Johnson. 



10 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

But he fairly told Taylor that he could not, in conscience, 
suffer him to enter where he knew he could not have an able 
tutor. He then made enquiry all round the University, and 
having found that Mr. Bateman, of Christ-Church, was the 
5 tutor of highest reputation, Taylor was entered of that Col- 
lege. Mr. Bateman' s lectures were so excellent, that John- 
son used to come and get them at second-hand from Taylor, 

. till his poverty being so extreme, that his shoes were worn out, 
and his feet appeared through them, he saw that this humiliat- 

10 ing circumstance was pereeived by the Christ-Church men, 
and he came no more. He was too proud to accept of money, 
and somebody having set a pair of new shoes at his door, he 
threw them away with indignation. 

Dr. Adams paid Johnson this high compliment. "I was 

15 his nominal tutor; but he was above my mark." When I 
repeated it to Johnson, his eyes flashed with grateful satis- 
faction, and he exclaimed, "That was liberal and noble." 

The state of poverty in which his father died, appears 
from a note in one of Johnson's little diaries. "I layed by 

20 eleven guineas on this day, when I received twenty pounds, 
being all that I have reason to hope for out of my father's 
effects, previous to the death of my mother ; an event which 
I pray God may be very remote. I now therefore see that I 
must make my own fortune. Meanwhile, let me take care 

25 that the powers of my mind be not debilitated by pov- 
erty, and that indigence do not force me into any criminal 
act." 

Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable char- 
acter of his parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest 

30 years, secured him a kind reception in the best families at 
Lichfield. Among these were Dr. Swinfen, Captain Garrick, 
and Mr. Gilbert Walmsley, Registrar of the Ecclesiastical 
Court of Lichfield. In these families he was in the company 
of ladies, particularly at Mr. Walmsley's, whose wife and 

35 sisters-in-law, of the name of Aston, and daughters of a 
Baronet, were remarkable for good breeding; so that the 
notion which has been industriously circulated and believed, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 11 

that he never was in good company till late in life, is wholly 
without foundation. 

In the forlorn state of his circumstances, he accepted of an 
offer to be employed as usher in the school of Market-Bos- 
worth, in Leicestershire. This employment was very irk- 5 
some to him in every respect. Mr. Hector recollects his 
writing "that the poet had described the dull sameness of his 
existence in these words, c Vitam continet una dies 9 (one day 
contains the whole of my life) ; that it was unvaried as the 
note of the cuckoo ; and that he did not know whether it 10 
was more disagreeable for him to teach, or the boys to learn, 
the grammar rules. " 

He was invited by Mr. Hector to pass some time at Bir- 
mingham. Mr. Warren, the first established bookseller in 
Birmingham, was very attentive to Johnson, who he soon 15 
found could be of much service to him in his trade, by his 
knowledge of literature and in furnishing some numbers of 
a periodical Essay printed in the newspaper, of which Warren 
was the proprietor. He made some valuable acquaintances 
there, amongst whom were Mr. Porter, a mercer, whose widow 20 
he afterwards married. 

Having mentioned that he had read at Pembroke College 
a Voyage to Abyssinia, by Lobo, a Portuguese Jesuit, and 
that he thought an abridgement and translation of it from the 
French into English might be an useful and profitable publica- 25 
tion, Mr. Warren and Mr. Hector joined in urging him to 
undertake it. He accordingly agreed; but his constitu- 
tional indolence soon prevailed, and the work was at a stand. 
Mr. Hector, who knew that a motive of humanity would be 
the most prevailing argument with his friend, went to John- 30 
son, and represented to him, that the printer could have no 
other employment till this undertaking was finished, and that 
the poor man and his family were suffering. Johnson upon 
this exerted the powers of his mind, though his body was 
relaxed. He lay in bed with the book, which was a quarto, 35 
before him, and dictated while Hector wrote. 

He published proposals for printing by subscription the 



12 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Latin Poems of Politian. There were not subscribers 
enough to insure a sufficient sale; so the work never 
appeared. 

Miss Porter told me, that when he was first introduced to 
5 her mother, his appearance was very forbidding : he was then 
lean and lank, so that his immense structure of bones was 
hideously striking to the eye, and the scars of the scrophula 
were deeply visible. He also wore his hair, which was straight 
and stiff, and separated behind ; and he often had, seemingly, 

10 convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to 
excite at once surprise and ridicule. Mrs. Porter was so 
much engaged by his conversation that she overlooked all 
these external disadvantages, and said to her daughter, 
"This is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life." 

15 Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson, and 
her person and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. 
Garrick, were by no means pleasing to others, she must have 
had a superiority of understanding and talents, as she cer- 
tainly inspired him with a more than ordinary passion. He 

20 went to Lichfield to ask Ms mother' s consent to the marriage ; 
which he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent 
scheme, both on account of their disparity of years, and her 
want of fortune. But Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour 
of her son's temper, and was too tender a parent to oppose 

25 his inclinations. 

"Sir, it was a love marriage on both sides." I have had 
from my illustrious friend the following curious account of 
their journey to church upon the nuptial morn : — "Sir, she 
had read the old romances, and had got into her head the 

30 fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover 
like a dog. So, Sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, 
and she could not keep up with me : and, when I rode a little 
slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. 
I was not to be made the slave of caprice ; and I resolved to 

35 begin as I meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till 
I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two 
hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it ; and I contrived 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 13 

that she should soon come up with me. When she did, I 
observed her to be in tears/ ' 

He now set up a private academy, for which purpose he 
hired a large house. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1736, 
there is the following advertisement: "At Edial, near Lich- 5 
field, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and 
taught the Latin and Greek Languages, by Samuel John- 
son/' But the only pupils that were put under his care 
were the celebrated David Garrick and his brother George, 
and a Mr. Offely. The truth is, that he was not so well 10 
qualified for being a teacher of elements, and a conductor in 
learning by regular gradations, as men of inferiour powers of 
mind. His own acquisitions had been made by fits and starts, 
by violent irruptions into the regions of knowledge; and it 
could not be expected that his impatience would be subdued, 15 
and his impetuosity restrained, so as to fit him for a quiet 
guide to novices. 

From Mr. Garrick's account he did not appear to have been 
profoundly reverenced by his pupils. His oddities of manner, 
and uncouth gesticulations, could not but be the subject of 20 
merriment to them ; and in particular, the young rogues used 
to listen and peep through the key-hole, that they might 
turn into ridicule his tumultuous and awkward fondness for 
Mrs. Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar appel- 
lation of Tetty or Tetsey, which, like Betty or Betsey, is provin- 25 
dally used as a contraction for Elizabeth. I have seen 
Garrick exhibit her, by his exquisite talent of mimickry, so 
as to excite the heartiest bursts of laughter. 

Johnson now thought of trying his fortune in London. 
David Garrick went thither at the same time, with intent to 30 
follow the profession of the law, from which he was soon 
diverted by his decided preference for the stage. 

He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew 
how he could live in the cheapest manner. "I dined (said 
he) very well for eight-pence, with very good company, at 35 
the Pine- Apple in New-street, just by. Several of them had 
travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not 



14 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, 
for the}^ drank wine ; but I had a cut of meat for six-pence, 
and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny ; so that 
I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they 
5 gave the waiter nothing." His Ofellus in the Art of Living 
in London, I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, 
whom he knew at Birmingham. " He said a man might live 
in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would 
inquire where he lodged ; and if they did, it was easy to say, 

10 'Sir, I am to be found at such a place/ By spending three- 
pence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every 
day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, 
breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without 
supper. On clean-shirt-day he went abroad, and paid visits." 

15 Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circum- 
stance to cheer him ; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry 
Hervey, who had at this time a house in London, where 
Johnson had an opportunity of meeting genteel company. 
He described this early friend, " Harry Hervey," thus: "He 

20 was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog 
Hervey, I shall love him." 

He had now written only three acts of his Irene, and 
retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he 
used to compose, walking in the Park. His tragedy was 

25 slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days before his 
death, while burning a great mass of papers, he picked out 
from among them the original unformed sketch of this 
tragedy, in his own handwriting, and gave it to Mr. Langton. 
The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript as 

30 a literary curiosity, the volume is deposited in the King's 
library. 

He related to me the following minute anecdote of this 
period : "In the last age, when my mother lived in London, 
there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and 

35 those who took it ; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. 
When I returned to Lichfield, my mother asked me, whether 
I was one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 15 

Now it is fixed that every man keeps to the right ; or, if one 
is taking the wall, another yields it ; and it is never a dispute." 

His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely 
finished and fit for the stage, Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that 
Johnson and he went together to the Fountain Tavern, and 5 
read it over, and that he afterwards solicited Mr. Fleetwood, 
the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at his 
house; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably 
because it was not patronized by some man of high rank; 
and it was not acted till 1749, when his friend David Garrick 10 
was manager of that theatre. 

The Gentleman's Magazine, begun and carried on by 
Mr. Edward Cave, under the name of Sylvanus Urban, had 
attracted the notice and esteem of Johnson, in an eminent 
degree, before he came to London as an adventurer in litera- 15 
ture. He told me, that when he first saw St. John's Gate, 
the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was 
originally printed, he " beheld it with reverence." 

His first performance in the Gentleman's Magazine, was a 
copy of Latin verses, in March 1738, addressed to the editor 20 
in so happy a style of compliment, that Cave must have been 
destitute both of taste and sensibility, had he not felt himself 
highly gratified. 

He was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor 
in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable 25 
livelihood. What we certainly know to have been done by 
him was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under 
the name of "The Senate of Lilliput," sometimes with feigned 
denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with de- 
nominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the 30 
manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily 
be decyphered. Parliament then kept the press in a kind of 
mysterious awe, which made it necessary to have recourse 
to such devices. The speeches were enriched by the acces- 
sion of Johnson's genius, from the scanty notes furnished by 35 
persons employed to attend in both houses of Parliament. 
Sometimes he had nothing more communicated to him than 



16 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

the names of the several speakers, and the part which they 
had taken in the debate. 

But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and "gave 
the world assurance of the Man/' was his "London, a Poem, 
5 in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal." 

To Mr. Cave. 

" Having the inclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for 
the benefit of the authour (of whose abilities I shall say noth- 
ing, since I send you his performance), I cannot help taking 
10 notice, that besides what the authour may hope for on 
account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your 
regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous cir- 
cumstances of fortune. Sam. Johnson." 

Mr. Robert Dodsley had taste enough to perceive its un- 

15 common merit, and gave Johnson ten guineas, who told me, 
"I might perhaps have accepted of less; but that Paul 
Whitehead had a little before got ten guineas for a poem; 
and I would not take less than Paul Whitehead." 

Johnson's " London" was published in May, 1738;. and it 

20 is remarkable that it came out on the same morning with 
Pope's satire, entitled "1738." Pope, who then filled the 
poetical throne without a rival, must have been particularly 
struck by the sudden appearance of such a poet. Informed 
that his name was Johnson, and that he was some obscure 

25 man, Pope said, "He will soon be deterre." 

The nation was then in that ferment against the Court 
and the Ministry, which some years after ended in the down- 
fall of Sir Robert Walpole. Accordingly we find in Johnson's 
"London " the most spirited invectives against tyranny and 

30 oppression, the warmest predilection for his own country, 
and the purest love of virtue ; interspersed with traits of his 
own particular character and situation, not omitting his 
prejudices as a "true-born Englishman." 

" Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore, 
35 And bear Oppression's insolence no more." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 17 

11 How, when competitors like these contend, 
Can surly Virtue hope to find a friend ? " 

" This mournful truth is every where confess'd, 
Slow rises worth, by poverty depress'd !" 

An offer being made to him of the mastership of a school, 5 
provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts, Dr. 
Adams was applied to, to know whether that could be granted 
him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But it was 
then thought too great a favour to be asked. 

Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his " London," io 
recommended him to Earl Gower, who endeavoured to procure 
for him a degree from Dublin, by a letter to a friend of Dean 
Swift. It was, perhaps, no small disappointment to Johnson 
that this respectable application had not the desired effect. He 
applied to Dr. Adams, to consult Dr. Smalebroke of the Com- 15 
mons, whether a person might be permitted to practise as an 
advocate there, without a doctor's degree in Civil Law. He 
who could displa}^ eloquence and wit in defence of the deci- 
sion of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for 
Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow- 20 
subjects in America, must have been a powerful advocate 
in any cause. But here, also, the want of a degree was an 
insurmountable bar. 

Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave concludes with a 
fair confession that he had not a dinner. Though in this 25 
state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insen- 
sible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature. 

To Mr. Cave. 

"You may remember I have formerly talked with you 
about a Military Dictionary. Mr. Macbean has very good 30 
materials for such a work, which I have seen, and will do it 
at a very low rate. Sam. Johnson." 

In "Marmor Norf olciense ; or an Essay on an ancient 
prophetical Inscription, in monkish Rhyme, lately discovered 



18 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

near Lynne in Norfolk, by Probtjs Britannicus," he, in a 
feigned inscription, supposed to have been found in Nor- 
folk, the country of Sir Robert Walpole, the obnoxious prime 
minister, inveighs against the Brunswick succession, and the 
5 measures of government consequent upon it. To this sup- 
posed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each expres- 
sion apply to the times, with warm Anti-Hanoverian zeal. 

"Marmor Norf olciense " became exceedingly scarce, so that 
I for many years endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. 

10 At last I was indebted to the malice of one of Johnson's 
numerous petty adversaries, who, in 1775, published a new 
edition of it, "with Notes and a Dedication to Samuel John- 
son, LL.D. by Tribunus;" in which some puny scribbler 
invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of incon- 

15 sistency against its author, because he had accepted of a 
pension. He looked at it and laughed, and seemed to be 
much diverted with the feeble efforts of his unknown adver- 
sary, who, I hope, is alive to read this account. "Now (said 
he) here is somebody who thinks he has vexed me sadly ; yet, 

20 if it had not been for you, you rogue, I should probably never 
have seen it." 

Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson justifies Swift's 
epithet of "paper-sparing Pope," ° for it is written on a slip 
no larger than a common message-card: 

25 "This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a Publick- 
school in Shropshire, but was disappointed. He has an in- 
firmity of the convulsive kind, that attacks him sometimes, 
so as to make Him a sad Spectacle. Mr. P. from the Merit 
of This Work which was all the knowledge he had of Him 

30 endeavour' d to serve Him without his own application ; & 

wrote to my L d gore, but he did not succeed. Mr. Johnson 

published afterw ds another Poem in Latin with Notes the 

whole very Humerous call'd the Norfolk Prophecy. P." 

When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson that he seemed very 

35 desirous to see Pope's note, he answered, "Who would not 
be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in enquir- 
ing about him?" 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 19 

Sir Joshua Reynolds, however, said : "Those motions or 
tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. 
He could sit motionless, when he was told so to do, as well 
as any other man. My opinion is, that it proceeded from a 
habit ° which he had indulged himself in, of accompanying 5 
his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions 
always appeared to me as if they were meant to reprobate 
some part of his past conduct. The great business of his life 
(he said) was to escape from himself; this disposition he 
considered as the disease of his mind, which nothing cured 10 
but company. We visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorset- 
shire ; the conversation turning upon pictures, which Johnson 
could not well see, he retired to a corner of the room, 
stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach before 
him, then bringing up his left leg, and stretching his right 15 
still further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up 
to him, and in a very courteous manner assured him, though 
it was not a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. The 
Doctor started from his reverie like a person waked out of 
his sleep, but spoke not a word." 20 

Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visitor at the house 
of Mr. Richardson, author of Clarissa. Mr. Hogarth came 
one day to see Richardson. While he was talking, he per- 
ceived a person standing at a window in the room, shaking 
his head, and rolling himself about in a strange ridiculous 25 
manner. He concluded that he was an idiot, whom his rela- 
tions had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very 
good man. To his great surprise, however, this figure stalked 
forwards to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and 
all at once took up the argument, and burst out into an in- 30 
vective against George the Second. 

Garrick repeated an Epitaph upon Phillips. Johnson 
shook his head at these common-place funeral lines. "I 
think, Davy, I can make a better." Then stirring about his 
tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost ex- 35 
tempore produced the following verses : 



20 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

" Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove 
The pangs of guilty power or hapless love ; 
Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more, 
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before ; 
Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine, 
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine ! " 



Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer. "Tom 
Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner 
does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to 
10 him, and benumbs all his faculties." 

His circumstances were at this time embarrassed ; yet his 
affection for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he 
took upon himself a debt of hers. 

To Mr. Levett; in Lichfield. 

15 "I am extremety sorry that we have encroached so much 
upon your forbearance with respect to the interest, which I 
am not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it 
(I think twelve pounds,) in two months. I look upon this, 
and on the future interest of that mortgage, as my own debt ; 

20 and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how 
to pay it, and not mention it to my dear mother. Sam. 
Johnson." 

In 1744 he produced The Life of Richard Savage : a man 
of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wonder- 

25 ing that he was for some time the intimate companion of 
Johnson; for his character was marked by profligacy, inso- 
lence, and ingratitude : yet, as he undoubtedly had a warm 
and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all 
its varieties, and been much in the company of the statesmen 

30 and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an 
abundant supply of such materials as his philosophical curi- 
osity most eagerly desired. It is melancholy to reflect, that 
Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme in- 
digence, that they could not pay for a lodging ; so that they 

35 have wandered together whole nights in the streets. He 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 21 

told Sir Joshua Reynolds that one night in particular, 
when Savage and he walked round St. James' s-Square for 
want of a lodging, they were not at all depressed by their 
situation ; but in high spirits and brimful of patriotism, trav- 
ersed the square for several hours, inveighed against the 5 
minister and " resolved they would stand by their country." 

Johnson's "Life of Savage" is one of the most interesting 
narratives in the English language. Sir Joshua Reynolds 
told me, that upon his return from Italy he met with it in 
Devonshire, knowing nothing of its author, and began to read 10 
it while he was standing with his arm leaning against a 
chimney-piece. It seized his attention so strongly, that, not 
being able to lay down the book till he had finished it, when 
he attempted to move, he found his arm totally benumbed. 
The rapidity with which this work was composed is a won- 15 
derful circumstance. Johnson has been heard to say, "I 
wrote forty-eight of the printed octavo pages of the Life of 
Savage at a sitting; but then I sat up all night." 

Johnson and Taylor went to see Garrick perform, and after- 
wards passed the evening at a tavern with him and old 20 
GifTard. Johnson, after censuring some mistakes in emphasis, 
which Garrick had committed in the course of that night's 
acting, said, "The players, Sir, have got a kind of rant, with 
which they run on, without any regard either to accent or 
emphasis." Both Garrick and Giffard were offended at this 25 
sarcasm, and endeavoured to refute it ; upon which Johnson 
rejoined, "Well now, I'll give you something to speak, with 
which you are little acquainted, and then we shall see how 
just my observation is. That shall' be the criterion. Let me 
hear you repeat the ninth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not 30 
bear false witness against thy neighbour.'" Both tried at it, 
said Dr. Taylor, and both mistook the emphasis, which should 
be upon not and false witness. Johnson put them right, and 
enjoyed his victory with great glee. 

In 1745 he published a pamphlet entitled, " Miscellaneous 35 
Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with Remarks on 
Shakspeare." His pamphlet was fortunate enough to ob- 



22 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

tain the approbation even of the supercilious Warburton 
himself. 

David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager 
of Drury-lane theatre,. Johnson honoured his opening of it 
5 with a Prologue. Like the celebrated Epilogue to the " Dis- 
tressed Mother/' it was, during the season, often called for 
by the audience. 

But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch when 
Johnson's arduous and important work, his Dictionary of 

10 the English Language, was announced to the world, by 
the publication of its Plan or Prospectus. He told me, 
that "it was not the effect of particular study; but that it 
had grown up in his mind insensibly." I have been in- 
formed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years before 

15 this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother 
Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him, that a 
Dictionary of the English Language would be a work that 
would be well received by the publick ; that Johnson seemed 
at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in 

20 his abrupt decisive manner, "I believe I shall not undertake 
it." Johnson told me, "Sir, the way in which the plan of 
my Dictionary came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, was 
this : I had neglected to write it by the time appointed. 
Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord 

25 Chesterfield. I laid hold of this as a pretext for delay, that 
it might be better done, and let Dodsley have his desire. I 
said to my friend, Dr. Bathurst, 'Now if an} 7 good comes of 
my addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed to 
deep policy,' when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for 

30 laziness." His "Plan" in manuscript got into the hands of 
a noble Lord, who carried it to Lord Chesterfield. When 
Taylor observed this might be an advantage, Johnson 
replied, "No, Sir, it would have come out with more bloom, 
if it had not been seen before by any body." 

35 Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary. 
Adams. "But, Sir, how can you do this in three years?" 
Johnson. "Sir, I have no doubt that I can do it in three 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.B. 23 

years. " Adams. "But the French Academy, which consists 
of forty members, took forty years to compile their Diction- 
ary." Johnson. "Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. 
Let me see ; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three 
to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to 5 
a Frenchman." For the mechanical part he employed six 
amanuenses. To all these painful labourers Johnson shewed 
a never-ceasing kindness. 

While the Dictionary was going forward, Johnson lived part 
of the time in Holborn, part in Gough-square, Fleet-street ; 10 
and he had an upper room fitted up like a counting-house for 
the purpose, in which he gave to the copyists their several 
tasks. The words, partly taken from other dictionaries, and 
partly supplied by himself, having been first written down with 
spaces left between them, he delivered in writing their ety- 15 
mologies, definitions, and various significations. The au- 
thorities ° were copied from the books themselves, in which he 
had marked the passages with a black-lead pencil. I remem- 
ber his telling me, that a large portion of it having by mistake 
been written upon both sides of the paper, so as to be incon- 20 
venient for the compositor, it cost him twenty pounds to have 
it transcribed upon one side only. 

But his enlarged and lively mind could not be satisfied 
without more diversity of employment, and the pleasure of 
animated relaxation. He therefore formed a club in Ivy 25 
lane, Paternoster Row, with a view to enjoy literary discus- 
sion, and amuse his evening hours. The members associated 
with him in this little society were, his beloved friend Dr. 
Richard Bathurst, Mr. Hawkesworth, afterwards well 
known by his writings, Mr. John Hawkins, an attorney, and 30 
a few others of different professions. 

In the Gentleman's Magazine he wrote a "Life of Roscom- 
mon/' which he afterwards inserted amongst his Lives of the 
English Poets. 

Mr. Dodsley brought out his Preceptor. Johnson 35 
furnished "The Preface," as also, "The Vision of Theodore, 
the Hermit, found in his Cell," a most beautiful allegory of 



24 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

human life, under the figure of ascending the mountain of 
Existence. Dr. Johnson thought this was the best thing he 
ever wrote. 

In January, 1749, he published " The Vanity of Human 
5 Wishes, being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated." I 
have heard him say, that he composed seventy lines of it in 
one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they 
were finished. I remember when I once regretted to him that 
he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said he 

10 probably should give more, for he had them all in his head. 
Garrick observed in his sprightly manner, with more vi- 
vacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits, 
" When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good 
deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his ' London/ which 

15 is lively and easy : when he became more retired, he gave us 
his ' Vanity of Human Wishes/ which is as hard as Greek. 
Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been 
as hard as Hebrew." 

Garrick being now manager of Drury-lane theatre, kindly 

20 and generously made use of it to bring out Johnson's tragedy, 
which had been long kept back for want of encouragement. 
But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty 
from the temper of Johnson. "Sir, (said he) the fellow wants 
me to make Mahomet run mad, that he may have an oppor- 

25tunity of tossing his hands and kicking his heels." 

Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls and whis- 
tling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which 
was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the audience, 
and the play went off tolerably, till it came to the conclusion, 

30 when Mrs. Pritchard, the Heroine of the piece, was to be 
strangled upon the stage, and was to speak two lines with the 
bow-string round her neck. The audience cried out 'Murder ! 
Murder!' She several times attempted to speak; but in 
vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive. 

35 This passage was afterwards struck out, and she was carried 
off to be put to death behind the scenes. 

Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.I). 25 

Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every 
advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did 
not please the publick. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through 
for nine nights, so that the authour had his three nights' 
profits. Garrick has complained to me, that Johnson not 5 
only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of 
tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive 
them. 

When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, 
he replied, "Like the Monument;" meaning that he con- 10 
tinued firm and unmoved as that column. "A man (said 
he) who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than 
the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or 
amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals, must, 
after all, be the judges of his pretensions." 15 

He appeared behind the scenes, and even in one of the side 
boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace, and a gold- 
laced hat. He humourously observed to Mr. Langton, "that 
when in that dress he could not treat people with the same 
ease as when in his usual plain clothes." He for a consider- 20 
able time used to frequent the Green-Room, and seemed to 
take delight in dissipating his gloom, by mixing in the sprightly 
chit-chat of the motley circle then to be found there. John- 
son at last denied himself this amusement, from considera- 
tions of rigid virtue ; saying, "I'll come no more behind your 25 
scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of 
your actresses excite my amorous propensities." 

In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was 
eminently qualified, a majestick teacher of moral and re- 
ligious wisdom. The vehicle which he chose was that of a 30 
periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former oc- 
casions, employed with great success. The Tatler, Spectator, 
and Guardian, were the last of the kind published in England. 
He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its 
name: "What must be done, Sir, will be done. I was at a 35 
loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, 
and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its 



26 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

i 

title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I 
took it/' ° 

Many of these discourses, which we should suppose had 
been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, 
5 were written in haste as the moment pressed, without even 
being read over by him before they were printed. Sir Joshua 
Reynolds once asked Mm by what means he had attained his 
extraordinary accuracy and flow of language. He told him, 
that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on 

10 every occasion, and in every company : to impart whatever 
he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in; 
and that by constant practice, and never suffering any care- 
less expressions to escape him, or attempting to deliver his 
thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it 

15 became habitual to him. 

Johnson told me, with an amiable fondness, a little pleasing 
circumstance relative to this work. Mrs. Johnson, in whose 
judgement and taste he had great confidence, said to him, after 
a few numbers of the Rambler had come out, " I thought very 

20 well of you before ; but I did not imagine you could have 
written any thing equal to this." 

Some of these more solemn papers, I doubt not, particularly 
attracted the notice of Dr. Young, the authour of " The Night 
Thoughts." Johnson was pleased when told of the minute 

25 attention with which Young had signified his approbation 
of his Essays. 

I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be 
found more bark and steel for the mind. No. 32 on " patience, 
even under extreme misery," is wonderfully lofty, and as much 

30 above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter 
than the twilight of Pagan philosophy. I never read the 
following sentence without feeling my frame thrill : — "I think 
there is some reason for questioning whether the body and 
mind are not so proportioned, that the one can bear all which 

35 can be inflicted on the other ; whether virtue cannot stand its 
ground as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will 
not be sooner separated than subdued." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 27 

Several of the characters in the Rambler were drawn so 
naturally, that a club in one of the towns in Essex imagined 
themselves to be severally exhibited in it, and were much in- 
censed against a person who, they suspected, had thus made 
them objects of publick notice; nor were they quieted 5 
till authentick assurance was given them., that the Rambler 
was written b}^ a person who had never heard of any one of 
them. Some of the characters are believed to have been 
actually drawn from the life, particularly that of Prospero 
from Garrick, who never entirely forgave its pointed satire. 10 

It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of 
Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think, very un- 
justly, the style of Addison as nerveless and feeble, because it 
has not the strength and energy of that of Johnson. Let us 
remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson 15 
himself: "What he attempted he performed: he is never 
feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick ; he is never rapid, 
and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied 
amplitude, nor affected brevity : his periods, though not dili- 
gently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to 20 
attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant 
but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the 
volumes of Addison." 

Some of the translations of the mottos are by a Mr. F. 
Lewis, whom Johnson thus described: "Sir, he lived in 25 
London, and hung loose upon society." 

Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh 
physician, and a woman of more than ordinary talents and 
literature, having come to London in hopes of being cured of a 
cataract in both eyes, was kindly received as a constant 30 
visitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived ; and, after her 
death, had an apartment from him during the rest of her life. 

There was a suspension of Johnson's work during a part 
of the year 1752 ; for on the 17th of March, his wife died. 
To argue from her being much older than Johnson, or any 35 
other circumstances, that he could not really love her, is 
absurd; for love is not a subject of reasoning, but of feel- 



28 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ing, and therefore there are no common principles upon which 
one can persuade another concerning it. 

The following very solemn and affecting prayer was found 
after Dr. Johnson's decease, by his servant, Mr. Francis 
5 Barber : 

"April 26, 1752, being after 12 
at Night of the 25th. 
" Lord ! Governour of heaven and earth, in whose hands 
are embodied and departed Spirits, if thou hast ordained the 
10 Souls of the Dead to minister to the Living, and appointed my 
departed Wife to have care of me, grant that I may enjoy the 
good effects of her attention and ministration, whether exer- 
cised by appearance, impulses, dreams, or in any other man- 
ner agreeable to thy Government. Forgive my presump- 
15 tion, enlighten my ignorance, and however meaner agents are 
employed, grant me the blessed influences of thy holy Spirit, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 

"March 28, 1753. I kept this day as the anniversary of 

my Tetty's death, with prayer and tears in the morning. In 

20 the evening I prayed for her conditionally, if it were lawful." 

"April 23, 1753. I know not whether I do not too much 

indulge the vain longings of affection ; but I hope they in- 

tenerate my heart, and that when I die, like my Tetty, this 

affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview and that 

25 in the mean time I am incited by it to piety. I will, however, 

not deviate too much from common and received methods of 

devotion." 

Her wedding-ring, when she became his wife, was, after her 

death, preserved by him, as long as he lived, with an affec- 

30 tionate care, in a little round wooden box, in the inside of 

which he pasted a slip of paper, thus inscribed by him in fair 

characters, as follows : 

"Eheu! 
Eliz. Johnson, 
35 Nupta Jul. 9° 1736, 

Mortua, eheu! 
Mart. 17° 1752." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 29 

The dreadful shock of separation took place in the night ; 
and he immediately dispatched a letter to his friend, the 
Reverend Dr. Taylor, which, as Taylor told me, expressed 
grief in the strongest manner he had ever read; so that it 
is much to be regretted it has not been preserved. The letter 5 
was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his house in the Cloysters, 
Westminster, about three in the morning ; and as it signified 
an earnest desire to see him, he got up, and went to Johnson 
as soon as he was dressed, and found him in tears and in ex- 
treme agitation. After being a little while together, John- 10 
son requested him to join with him in prayer. 

His humble friend Mr. Robert Levet was an obscure prac- 
tiser in physick amongst the lower people, his fees being some- 
times very small, sometimes whatever provisions his patients 
could afford him ; but of such extensive practice in that way 15 
that Mrs. Williams has told me, his walk was from Hounds- 
ditch to Marylebone. Such was Johnson's predilection for 
him, and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities, that I 
have heard him say he should not be satisfied, though attended 
by all the College of Physicians, unless he had Mr. Levet 20 
with him. Mr. Levet had an apartment in his house, or his 
chambers, and waited upon him every morning, through the 
whole course of his late and tedious breakfast. He was of 
a strange grotesque appearance, stiff and formal in his man- 
ner, and seldom said a word while any company was 25 
present. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds was truly his dulce decus, and with 
him he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last 
hour of his life. Sir Joshua, indeed, was lucky enough at 
their very first meeting to make a remark, which was so much 30 
above the commonplace style of conversation, that Johnson 
at once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for 
himself. The ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to 
whom they owed great obligations; upon which Reynolds 
observed, "You have however, the comfort of being relieved 35 
from a burthen of gratitude." They were shocked a little 
at this alleviating suggestion as too selfish; but Johnson 



30 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much 
pleased with the mind, the fair view of human nature. 

One evening at the Miss CotterehV, the then Duchess of 
Argyle and another lady of high rank came in. Johnson 
5 thinking that he and his friend were neglected, addressed 
himself in a low tone to Mr. Reynolds, saying, "How much do 
you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to work 
as hard as we could ?" — as if they had been common me- 
chanicks. 

10 Bennet Langton came to London chiefly with a view of 
endeavouring to be introduced to the authour of the Rambler. 
By a fortunate chance he happened to take lodgings in a house 
where Mr. Levet frequently visited; Johnson wished. to see 
numbers at his levee, as his morning circle of company might, 

15 with strict propriety, be called. Mr. Langton was exceed- 
ingly surprised when the sage first appeared. He had not 
received the smallest intimation of his figure, dress, or manner. 
From perusing his writings, he fancied he should see a decent, 
well-drest, in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. 

20 Instead of which, down from his bed-chamber, about noon, 
came, as newly risen, a huge, uncouth figure, with a little dark 
wig which scarcely covered his head, and his clothes hanging 
loose about him. But his conversation was so rich, so ani- 
mated, and so forcible, and his religious and political notions 

25 so congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, 
that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment 
which he ever preserved. 

Mr. Beauclerk's being of the St. Alban's family, and, having, 
in some particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, 

30 contributed, in Johnson's imagination, to throw a lustre upon 
his other qualities; and in a short time, the moral, pious 
Johnson, and the gay dissipated Beauclerk, were companions. 
"What a coalition! (said Garrick, when he heard of this:) 
I shall have my old friend to bail out of the Round-house." 

35 Beauclerk could take more liberty with him, than any body 
with whom I ever saw him. One Sunday, when the weather 
was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insensibly, to saunter 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 31 

about all the morning. They went into a church-yard, in the 
time of divine service, and Johnson laid himself down at his 
ease upon one of the tomb-stones. "Now, Sir, (said Beau- 
clerk) you are like Hogarth's Idle Apprentice." When John- 
son got his pension, Beauclerk said to him, in the humourous 5 
phrase of Falstaff, "I hope you'll now purge and live cleanly, 
like a gentleman/ ' 

One night, when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a 
tavern in London, and sat till about three in the morning, it 
came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if 10 
they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They 
rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple, 
till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig 
on the top of his head, instead of a night-cap, and a poker in 
his hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming 15 
to attack him. When he discovered who they were, and was 
told their errand, he smiled, and with great good humour 
agreed to their proposal: "What, is it you, you dogs ! I!ll 
have a frisk with you." He was soon drest, and they sallied 
forth together into Covent-Garden, where the greengrocers 20 
and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just 
come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts 
to help them; but the honest gardeners stared so at his 
figure and manner, and odd interference, that he soon saw his 
services were not relished. They then repaired to one of 25 
the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor 
called Bishop, which Johnson had always liked. 

Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast with 
some young Ladies. Johnson scolded him for "leaving his 
social friends to go and sit with a set of wretched un-idea'd 30 
girls." Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly, 
"I heard of your frolick t'other night. You'll be in the 
Chronicle." Upon which Johnson afterwards observed, "He 
durst not do such a thing. His wife would not let him !" 

Lord Chesterfield had behaved to him in such a manner as 35 
to excite his contempt and indignation. The world has been 
for many years amused with a story confidently told and as 



32 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

confidently repeated with additional circumstances, that a 
sudden disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his 
having been one day kept long in waiting in his Lordship's 
antechamber, for which the reason assigned was, that he had 

5 company with him ; and that at last, when the door opened, 
out walked Colley Cibber ; and that Johnson was so violently 
provoked when he found for whom he had been so long ex- 
cluded, that he went away in a passion, and never would 
return. Johnson himself assured me, that there was not the 

10 least foundation for it. He told me, that there never was any 
particular incident which produced a quarrel between Lord 
Chesterfield and him ; but that his Lordship's continued neg- 
lect was the reason why he resolved to have no connexion with 
him. When the Dictionary w T as upon the eve of publication, 

15 Lord Chesterfield, who, it is said, had flattered himself with 
expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him, 
attempted, in a courtly manner, to soothe and insinuate 
himself with the Sage, by writing two papers in " The World," 
in recommendation of the work; and it must be confessed 

20 that they contain some studied compliments, so finely turned 
that if there had been no previous offence, it is probable that 
Johnson would have been highly delighted. 

This courtly device failed of its effect. Johnson, who 
thought that "all was false and hollow," despised the hone}^ed 

25 words. "Sir, after making great professions, he had, for 
many years, taken no notice of me ; but when my Dictionary 
was coming out, he fell a scribbling in ' The World ' about it. 
Upon which, I wrote him a letter expressed in civil terms, but 
such as might shew him that I did not mind what he said or 

30 wrote, and that I had done with him." 

To the Right Honourable the Earl of Chesterfield. 

"My Lord, February 7, 1755. 

"I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of the 
World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recom- 
35 mended to the publick, were written by your Lordship. To 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 33 

be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little 
accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to 
receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. 

" When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your 
Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the 5 
enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish 
that I might boast myself Le vainqueur du vainqueuer de la terre. 

"Seven years, my Lord, have t now past, since I waited in 
your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door ; during 
which time I have been pushing on my work through diffi- 10 
culties, of wmich it is useless to complain, and have brought it, 
at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of as- 
sistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. 
Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a Patron 
before. 15 

"The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, 
and found him a native of the rocks. 

"Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks w T ith unconcern 
on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has 
reached ground, encumbers him with help ? The notice 20 
which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it 
been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am 
indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and can- 
not impart it ; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it 
is no very cynical asperity, not to confess obligations where 25 
no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the Pub- 
lick should consider me as owing that to a Patron, which 
Providence has enabled me to do for myself. 

"Having carried on my work thus far with so little obliga- 
tion to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed 30 
though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for 
I have been long wakened from that dream of hope in which 
I once boasted myself with so much exultation, 

My Lord, 
Your Lordship's most humble, 35 

Most obedient servant, 

Sam. Johnson." 



34 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"While this was the talk of the town ° (says Dr. Adams), 
Dr. Warburton, finding that I was acquainted with Johnson, 
desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and to 
tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in 
5 rejecting these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, and for 
resenting the treatment he had received from him with a 
proper spirit. Johnson was visibly pleased with this compli- 
ment, for he had always a Jiigh opinion of Warburton. In 
the tenth Satire one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes 
10 even for literary distinction stood thus : 

11 Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail, 
Toil, envy, want, the garret, and the jail." 

But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chester- 
field's fallacious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the 
15 word garret from the sad group, 

" Toil, envy, want, the Patron, and the jail." 

"Sir (said Johnson) Lord Chesterfield is the proudest man 
this day existing." "No (said Dr. Adams), there is one per- 
son, at least, as proud; I think, by 3^our own account you 
20 are the prouder man of the two." "But mine (replied John- 
son instantly) was defensive pride." 

"This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among 
wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!" 

The character of a "respectable Hottentot," in Lord 
25 Chesterfield's letters, has been generally understood to be 
meant for Johnson. I said, laughingly, that there was 
one trait which unquestionably did not belong to him; 
"he throws his meat any where but down his throat." 
"Sir (said he), Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in his 
30 life." 

Johnson found an interval of leisure to make an excursion 
to Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. 
Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time, Mr. 
Warton preserved and communicated to me the following 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 35 

memorial. " When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, he 
wished to see his old College, Pembroke. I went with 
him. He was highly pleased to find all the College-servants 
which he had left there still remaining, particularly a very 
old butler. The master, Dr. Radcliffe, received him very 5 
coldly. Johnson at least expected that the master would 
order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication; but 
the master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked 
Johnson to dine, nor even to visit him, while he stayed at 
Oxford. Johnson said, t There lives a man, who lives by the 10 
revenues of literature, and will not move a finger to support 
it. If I come to live at Oxford, I shall take up my abode at 
Trinity/ We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke. 

"Johnson: 'I remember, at the classical lecture in the 
Hall, I could not bear Meeke's superiority, and I tried to 15 
sit as far from him as I could, that I might not hear him 
construe/ 

"Mr. Wise, Radclivian librarian, read to us a dissertation 
on some old divinities of Thrace, called the Cabiri. As we 
returned to Oxford in the evening, I out-walked Johnson, 20 
and he cried out Sufflamina, a Latin word, which came 
from his mouth with peculiar grace, and was as much as 
to say, Put on your drag chain. Before we got home, I 
again walked too fast for him ; and he now cried out, ' Why, 
3^ou walk as if you were pursued by all the Cabiri in a body/ 25 
In an evening we frequently took long walks from Oxford 
into the country, returning to supper. Once, in our way home 
we viewed the ruins of the abbies of Oseney and Rewley, near 
Oxford. After at least half an hour's silence, Johnson said, 
' I viewed them with indignation ! ' We had then a long 30 
conversation on Gotjiic buildings ; and in talking of the form 
of old halls, he said, 'In these halls, the fire-place was an- 
ciently always in the middle of the room, till the Whigs 
removed it on one side/ ' Meeke was left behind at Oxford 
to feed on a Fellowship, and I went to London to get 35 
my living : now, Sir, see the difference of our literary charac- 
ters !'" 



36 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

The degree of Master of Arts was now considered as an 
honour of considerable importance, in order to grace the 
title-page of his Dictionary ; and his character in the literary 
world being by this time deservedly high, his friends thought 
5 that, if proper exertions were made, the University of Oxford 
would pay him the compliment. 

To the Reverend Thomas Warton. 

"I am extremely obliged to you and to Mr. Wise for the 
uncommon care which you have taken of my interest. 
10 "You know poor Mr. Dodsley has lost his wife; I hope he 
will not suffer so much as I yet suffer for the loss of mine. 

Qt/iwi ' tl 5 oijxoL ; dvTjra yap ireirbvdanev. 

I have ever since seemed to myself broken off from mankind ; 
a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without airy 
15 direction, or fixed point of view : a gloomy gazer on the world 
to which I have little relation. Sam. Johnson/' 

In 1755 we behold him to great advantage ; his degree of 
Master of Arts conferred upon him, his Dictionary published, 
his correspondence animated, his benevolence exercised. 

20 Dr. Adams, visiting him one day, found his parlour floor 
covered with parcels of foreign and English literary journals, 
and he told Dr. Adams he meant to undertake a Review. 
"How, Sir (said Dr. Adams), can you think of doing it alone ? 
All branches of knowledge must be considered in it.^Do- 

25 you know Mathematicks ? Do you know Natural History ? " 
Johnson answered, "Why, Sir, I must do as well as I can. 
My chief purpose is to give my countrymen a view of what is 
doing in literature upon the continent ; and I shall have, in a 
good measure, the choice of my subject, for I shall select 

30 such books as I best understand/' Dr. Adams suggested 
Dr. Maty as an assistant. u He (said Johnson), the little 
black dog ! I'd throw him into the Thames." The scheme, 
however, was dropped. 
Mr. Andrew Millar, bookseller in the Strand, took the : 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 37 

principal charge of conducting the publication of Johnson's 
Dictionary; and as the patience of the proprietors was re- 
peatedly tried and almost exhausted, by their expecting that 
the work would be compleated within the time which John- 
son had sanguinely supposed, the learned author was often 5 
goaded to dispatch, more especially as he had received all the 
copy money, by different drafts, a considerable time before 
he had finished his task. When the messenger who carried 
the last sheet to Millar returned, Johnson asked him, "Well, 
what did he say ?" — "Sir (answered the messenger), he said, 10 
1 Thank God I have done with him/ " "I am glad (replied 
Johnson, with a smile), that he thanks God for any thing/ ' 

To Bennet Langton. 

"Sir, 

"I have a mother more than eighty years old, who has 15 
counted the days to the publication of my book, in hopes of 
seeing me; and to her, if I can disengage myself here, I 
resolve to go. 

"When the duty that calls me to Lichfield is discharged, 
my inclination will carry me to Langton. I shall delight to 20 
hear the ocean roar, or see the stars twinkle, in the company 
of men to whom Nature does not spread her volumes or utter 
her voice in vain. Sam. Johnson. " 

The Dictionary, with a Grammar and History of the English 
Language, being now at length published, in two volumes 25 
folio, the world contemplated with wonder so stupendous a 
work achieved by one man, while other countries had thought 
such undertakings fit only for whole academies. One of its 
excellencies has always struck me with peculiar admiration ; 
I mean the perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract 30 
scientific notions. As an instance of this, I shall quote the 
following sentence : " When the radical idea branches out 
into parallel ramifications, how can a consecutive series be 
formed of senses in their nature collateral?" 

A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. 35 
Thus, Windward and Leeward, though directly of opposite 



38 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

meaning, are defined identically the same way. A lady once 
asked him how he came to define Pastern' the knee of a horse : 
instead of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he 
at once answered, " Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance." 
5 His definition of Network has been often quoted with sportive 
malignity, as obscuring a thing in itself very plain. But to 
these frivolous censures no other answer is necessary than 
that with which we are furnished by his own Preface. "To 
explain requires the use of terms less abstruse than that 

10 which is to be explained, and such terms cannot always be 
found. Sometimes easier words are changed into harder ; as, 
burial, into sepulture or interment; dry, into desiccative; dry- 
ness, into siccity or aridity; fit, into paroxism; for, the easiest 
word, whatever it be, can never be translated into one more 

15 easy." 

His introducing his own opinions, and even prejudices, 
under general definitions of words, while at the same time the 
original meaning of the words is not explained, as his Tory. 
Whig, Pension, Oats, Excise, and a few more, cannot be full> 

20 defended, and must be placed to the account of capricious 
and humourous indulgence. ' ' You know, Sir, Lord Gower for- 
sook the old Jacobite interest. When I came to the Renegado 
after telling that it meant 'one who deserts to the enemy, a 
revolter/ I added, Sometimes we say a Gower. Thus it went 

25 to the press : but the printer had more wit than I, and struct 
it out." This indulgence does not display itself only ic 
sarcasm towards others, but sometimes in pWful allusion to 
the notions commonly entertained of his own laborious task. 
Thus: " Grub-street, the name of a street in London, much 

30 inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and tem- 
porary poems ; whence any mean production is called Grub- 
street." — "Lexicographer, a writer of dictionaries, a harmless 
drudge." 

He said to Sir Joshua Rejmolds, "If a man does not make 

35 new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon 
find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friend- 
ship in constant repair" 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 39 

The celebrated Mr. Wilkes, whose notions and habits of 
fe were very opposite to his, but who was ever eminent for 
terature and vivacity, sallied forth with a little Jeu d' Esprit 
pon the following passage in his Grammar of the English 
Tongue, prefixed to the Dictionary: "H seldom, perhaps 5 
j ever, begins any but the first syllable/' In any essay printed 
r.i the " Public Advertiser," this lively writer enumerated many 
instances in opposition to this remark; for example, "The 
"uthour of this observation must be a man of a quick appre- 
hension, and of a most compre-hensive genius." 10 
He had the pleasure of being treated in a very different 
lanner by Mr. Garrick: 

"On Johnson's Dictionary. 

" Talk of war with a Briton, hell boldly advance, 
That one English soldier will beat ten of France ; 15 

Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen, 
Our odds are still greater, still greater our men ; 
And Johnson, well-arm' d like a hero of yore, 
Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more ! " 

He wrote in his Journal the following scheme of life, for 20 
mnday: " Having lived " (as he with tenderness of con- 
. cience' expresses himself) "not without an habitual rev- 
rence for the Sabbath, yet without that attention to its 
sligious duties which Christianity requires;" 

" 1. To rise early, and in order to it, to go to sleep early on 25 
Saturday. 

"2. To use some extraordinary devotion in the morning. 

"3. To examine the tenour of my life, and particularly the 
ast week ; and to mark my advances in religion, or recession 
rom it. 30 

"4. To read the Scripture methodically with such helps as 
ire at hand. 

"5. To go to church twice. 

"6. To read books of Divinity, either speculative or 
practical. 35 

"7. To instruct my family. 



40 

"8. To wear off by meditation any worldly soil contracted 
in the week." 

He had spent, during the progress of the work, the money 
for which he had contracted to write his Dictionary. The 
5 reward of his labour was only fifteen hundred and seventy- 
five pounds ; and when the expence of amanuenses and paper 
and other articles are deducted, his clear profit was very in- 
considerable. I once said to him, "I am sorry, Sir, you did 
not get more for your Dictionary." His answer was, "I am 

10 sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are 
generous liberal-minded men." 

"Dr. Watts," said Johnson, "was one of the first who 
taught the Dissenters to write and speak like other men, by 
shewing them that elegance might consist with piety." 

15 His defence of tea ° against Mr. Jonas Hanway's violent 
attack upon that elegant and popular beverage, shews how 
very well a man of genius can write upon the slightest sub- 
ject, when he writes, as the Italians say, con amove: I sup- 
pose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of 

20 that fragrant leaf than Johnson. The quantities which he 
drank of it at all hours were so great, that his nerves must 
have been uncommonly strong, not to have been extremely 
relaxed by such an intemperate use of it. 

Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the Literary 

25 Magazine, and indeed anywhere, is his review of Soame 
Jenyns's ° "Inquiry into the Origin of Evil." Jenyns "ven- 
tured far beyond his depth," and accordingly, was exposed 
by Johnson, both with acute argument and brilliant wit. 
He resumed his scheme of giving an edition of Shakspeare 

30 with notes ; but his indolence prevented him from pursuing 
it with diligence. It is remarkable, that at this time his 
fancied activity was for the moment so vigorous, that he 
promised his work should be published before Christmas, 
1757. Yet nine years elapsed before it saw the light. 

35 About this period he was offered a living of considerable 
value in Lincolnshire, if he were inclined to enter into holy 
orders. It was a rectory in the gift of Mr. Langton. But 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 41 

he did not accept of it ; partly I believe from a conscientious 
motive, and partly because his love of a London life was so 
strong. 

To Bennet Langton. 

" I was much pleased with the tale that you told me of 5 
being tutour to your sisters. I, who have no sisters nor 
brothers, look with some degree of innocent envy on those 
who may be said to be born to friends; and cannot see, 
without wonder, how rarely that native union is afterwards 
regarded. We tell the ladies that good wives make good 10 
husbands; I believe it is a more certain position that good 
brothers make good sisters. 

"The two Wartons just looked into the town, and were 
taken to see Cleone, where, David says, they were starved for 
want of company to keep them warm. David and Doddy ° 15 
have had a new quarrel, and, I think, cannot conveniently 
quarrel any more. i Cleone ' was well acted by all the char- 
acters, but Bellamy left nothing to be desired. I went the 
first night, and supported it as well as I might ; for Doddy, 
you know, is my patron, and I would not desert him. The 20 
play was very well received. Doddy, after the danger was 
over, went every night to the stage-side, and cryed at the 
distress of poor Cleone. 

"Mr. Reynolds has within these few days raised his price 
to twenty guineas a head, and Miss ° is much employed in 25 
miniatures. Sam. Johnson." 

Mr. Burney, during a visit to the capital, had an 
interview with him in Gough-square, where he dined and 
drank tea with him, and was introduced to the acquaint- 
ance of Mrs. Williams. After dinner, Johnson proposed 30 
to Mr. Burney to go up with him into his garret, which being 
accepted, he there found about five or six Greek folios, a deal 
writing-desk, and a chair and a half. Johnson giving to his 
guest the entire seat, tottered himself on one with only three 
legs and one arm. Here he gave Mr. Burney Mrs. Williams's 35 



J 



42 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

history, and shewed him some volumes of his Shakspeare 
already printed, to prove that he was in earnest. Upon Mr. 
Burney's opening the first volume, at the Merchant of Venice, 
he observed to him, that he seemed to be more severe on War- 
5 burton than Theobald. "0 poor Tib.! (said Johnson) he 
was ready knocked down to my hands; Warburton stands 
between me and him." "But, Sir, (said Mr. Burney), you'll, 
have Warburton upon your bones, won't you?" "No Sir; 
he'll not come out : he'll only growl in his den." "But you 

10 think, Sir, that Warburton is a superiour critick to Theobald? " 
— "0, Sir, he'd make two-and-fifty Theobalds, cut into 
slices ! The worst of Warburton is, that he has a rage for 
saying something, when there's nothing to be said. " 

He began a new periodical paper, entitled "The Idler," 

15 which came out every Saturday in a weekly newspaper, called 
" The Universal Chronicle." The Idler is evidently the 
work of the same mind which produced the Rambler, but 
has less body and more spirit. 

Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, when on a visit at Ox- 

20 ford, asking him one evening how long it was till the post 
went out ; and on being told about half an hour, he exclaimed, 
"Then we shall do very well." He upon this instantly sat 
down and finished an Idler, which it was necessary should 
be in London the next day. Mr. Langton having signified 

25a wish to read it, "Sir, (said he), you shall not do more 
than I have done myself." He then folded it up, and sent 
it off. 

He describes "the attendant on a Court," as one "whose 
business is to watch the looks of a being weak and foolish as 

30 himself." 

His mother died at the great age of ninety, an event which 
deeply affected him. 

To Miss Porter, at Mrs. Johnson's, in Lichfield. 

"I think myself obliged to you beyond all expression of 

35 gratitude for your care of my dear mother. God grant it 

may not be without success. Tell Kitty, that I shall never 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 43 

forget her tenderness for her mistress. Whatever you can do, 
continue to do. My heart is very full. 

"I hope you received twelve guineas on Monday. I found 
a way of sending them by means of the Postmaster, after I 
had written my letter, and hope they came safe. I will send 5 
you more in a few days. God bless you all. Sam. Johnson." 

To his Mother. 

"Dear Honoured Mother, 

"Neither your condition nor your character make it fit 
for me to say much. You have been the best mother, and 1 10 
believe the best woman in the world. I thank you for your 
indulgence to me, and beg forgiveness of all that I have done 
ill, and all that I have omitted to do well. God grant you 
his Holy Spirit, and receive you to everlasting happiness, for 
Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Lord Jesus receive your spirit. !5 
Amen. 

"I am, dear, dear Mother, 

"Your dutiful Son, 
"Sam. Johnson." 

Soon after this event, he wrote his " Rasselas, Prince of 20 
Abyssinia." Mr. Strahan the printer told me, that Johnson 
wrote it, that with the profits he might defray the expence of 
his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts which she had 
left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he composed it in 
the evenings of one week, sent it to the press in portions as it 25 
was written, and had never since read it over. Mr. Strahan, 
Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Dodsley purchased it for a hundred 
pounds, but afterwards paid him twenty-five pounds more, 
when it came to a second edition. Rasselas, as was observed 
to me by a very accomplished lady, may be considered as a 30 
more enlarged and more , deeply philosophical discourse in 
prose, upon "Vanity of Human Wishes." 

Notwithstanding my high admiration of Rasselas, I will 
not maintain that the "morbid melancholy in Johnson's 
constitution may not, perhaps, have made life appear to him 35 



44 

more insipid and unhappy than it generally is." I always re- 
member a remark made to me by a Turkish lady, educated 
in France, "M a joi, Monsieur, notre bonheur depend de la fagon 
que notre sang circule" 
5 He refreshed himself by an excursion to Oxford, of which 
the following short characteristical notice, in his own words, 
is preserved : — ". . . . is now making tea for me. I have 
been in my gown ever since I came here. It was, at my 
first coming, quite new and handsome. I have swum thrice, 

10 which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to 
Vansittart climbing over the wall, but he has refused me. 
And I have clapped my hands till they are sore, at Dr. King's 
speech. " 

He said, "No man will be a sailor who has contrivance 

15 enough to get himself into a jail ; for being in a ship is being 
in a jail, with the chance of being drowned." And at another 
time, "A man in a jail has more room, better food, and com- 
monly better company." 

„_. To John Wilkes. 

20 Dear Sir, 

"I am again your petitioner in behalf of that great Cham 
of literature, Samuel Johnson. His black servant, whose 
name is Francis Barber, has been pressed on board the Stag 
Frigate, Captain Angel, and our lexicographer is in great 

25 distress. You know what matter of animosity the said 
Johnson has against you : and I dare say you desire no other 
opportunity of resenting it, than that of laying him under an 
obligation. 

"Your affectionate obliged humble servant, 

30 "T. Smollett." 

" There are (said he) inexcusable lies, and consecrated lies. 
For instance, we are told that on the arrival of the news of the 
unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, every heart beat, and every 
eye was in tears. Now we know that no man eat his dinner 
35 the worse, but there shoidd have been all this concern ; and 
to say there was, (smiling) may be reckoned a consecrated lie." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 45 

To Mr. Joseph Baretti, at Milan. 

" The only change in my way of life is, that I have fre- 
quented the theatre more than in former seasons. But I have 
gone thither only to escape from myself. Sam. Johnson. " 

A lady having at this time solicited him to obtain the 5 
Archbishop of Canterbury's patronage to have her son sent 
to the University, he wrote to her the following answer. 

V Madam, 

" My delay in answering your letter could proceed only from 
my unwillingness to destroy any hope that you had formed. 10 
Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief 
happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleas- 
ures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be 
expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged, 
must end in disappointment. If it be asked, what is the 15 
improper expectation which it is dangerous to indulge, ex- 
perience will quickly answer, that it is such expectation as is 
dictated not by reason, but by desire. 

"When you made your request to me, you should have 
considered, Madam, what you were asking. You ask me to so- 20 
licit a great man, to whom I never spoke, for a young person 
whom I had never seen, upon a supposition which I had no 
means of knowing to be true. There is no reason why, 
amongst all the great, I should chuse to supplicate the Arch- 
bishop, nor why, among all the possible objects of his bounty, 25 
the Archbishop should chuse your son. If I could help you 
in this exigence by any proper means, it would give me pleas- 
ure : but this proposal is so very remote from usual methods, 
that I cannot comply with it, but at the risk of such answer 
and suspicions as I believe you do not wish me to undergo. 30 

"Sam. Johnson." 

To Mr. Joseph Baretti, at Milan. 

" Last winter I went down to my native town, where I found 
the streets much narrower and shorter than I thought I 



46 

had left them, inhabited by a new race of people to whom I 
was very little known. My play-fellows were grown old, and 
forced me to suspect that I was no longer 3 r oung. My only 
remaining friend has changed his principles, and was become 
5 the tool of the* predominant faction. My daughter-in-law, 
from whom I expected most, and whom I met with sincere 
benevolence, has lost the beauty and gaiety of youth, without 
having gained much of the wisdom of age. I wandered 
about for five days, and took the first convenient opportunity 
10 of returning to a place, where, if there is not much happiness, 
there is, at least, such a diversity of good and evil, that slight 
vexations do not fix upon the heart. Sam. Johnson." 

The accession of George the Third opened a new and 
brighter prospect to men of literary merit. Johnson having 

15 been represented as a very learned and good man, without 
any certain provision, his Majesty was pleased to grant him a 
pension of three hundred pounds a year. The Earl of Bute, 
who was then Prime Minister, had the honour to announce 
this instance of his Sovereign's bounty. 

20 Sir Joshua Reynolds told me, that Johnson called on him 
after his Majesty's intention had been notified to him, and 
said he wished to consult his friends as to the propriety of 
his accepting this mark of the royal favour, after the defini- 
tions which he had given in his Dictionary of pension and 

25 pensioners. He then told Sir Joshua that Lord Bute said to 
him expressly, "It is not given you for any thing you are to 
do, but for what you have done." When I spoke to Lord 
Loughborough, wishing to know if he recollected the prime 
mover in the business, he said, ''All his friends assisted :" and 

30 when I told him that Mr. Sheridan strenuously asserted his 
claim to it, his Lordship said, "He rang the bell." Dr. John- 
son replied in a fervour of gratitude, "The English language 
does not afford me terms adequate to my feelings on this 
occasion. I must have recourse to the French. I am penetre 

35 with his Majesty's goodness." 

This year his friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds, paid a visit of 
some weeks to his native country, Devonshire, in which he 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 47 

was accompanied by Johnson. He was entertained at the 
seats of several noblemen and gentlemen in the west of Eng- 
land ; but the greatest part of this time was passed at Plym- 
outh, where the magnificence of the navy, the ship-building 
and all its circumstances, afforded him a grand subject of 5 
contemplation. Reynolds and he were at this time the guests 
of Dr. Mudge, the celebrated surgeon ; and Johnson formed 
an acquaintance with Dr. Mudge's father, that very emi- 
nent divine, the Reverend Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary 
of Exeter, who was idolised in the west. He preached a 10 
sermon purposely that Johnson might hear him ; and after- 
wards Johnson honoured his memory by drawing his char- 
acter. 

Having observed, that in consequence of the Dock-yard a 
new town had arisen about two miles off as a rival to the old ; 15 
and knowing from his sagacity, and just observation of human 
nature, that it is certain if a man hates at all, he will hate 
his next neighbour, he set himself resolutely on the side of 
the old town, the established town. Plymouth is very plenti- 
fully supplied with water by a river brought into it from a 20 
great distance, which is so abundant that it runs to waste in 
the town. The Dock, or New-town, being totally destitute 
of water, petitioned Plymouth that a small portion of the 
conduit might be permitted to go to them. Johnson, affec- 
ing to entertain the passions of the place, exclaimed, "No, 25 
no ! I am against the dockers, I am a Plymouth-man. 
Rogues ! let them die of thirst. They shall not have a drop ! " 

To Mr. Joseph Baretti, at Milan. 

e " There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from 
vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable 30 
woman ; and if all would happen that a lover fancies, I know 
not what other terrestrial happiness would deserve pursuit. 
But love and marriage are different states. A woman, we 
are sure, will not always be fair; we are not sure she will 
always be virtuous : and man cannot retain through life that 35 



48 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

respect and assiduity by which he pleases for a day or for a 
month. I do not, however, pretend to have discovered that 
life has any thing more to be desired than a prudent and 
virtuous marriage. Sam. Johnson." 

5 This is to me a memorable year ; for in it I had the happi- 
ness to obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man 
whose memoirs I am now writing. Though then but two- 
and-twenty, I had for several years read his works with de- 
light and instruction, and had the highest reverence for their 

10 authour, which had grown up in my fancy into a kind of 
mysterious veneration, by figuring to myself a state of solemn 
elevated abstraction, in which I supposed him to live in the 
immense metropolis of London. Mr. Gentleman had given 
me a representation of the figure and manner of Dictionary 

15 Johnson as he was then generally called. 

Mr. Thomas Davies the actor, who then kept a bookseller's 
shop in Russell-street, Covent-garden, told me that Johnson was 
very much his friend, and came frequently to his house, where 
he more than once invited me to meet him ; but by some 

20 unlucky accident or other he was prevented from coming 
to us. 

At last, on Monday, the 16th of May, when I was sitting in 
Mr. Davies' back-parlour, after having drunk tea with him 
and Mrs. Davies, Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop ; 
and Mr. Davies having perceived him through the glass-door 

25 in the room in which we were sitting, advancing towards us, — ■ 
he announced his awful approach to me, somewhat in the 
manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses 
Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost, "Look, my 
Lord, it comes." I found that I had a very perfect idea of 

30 Johnson's figure, from the portrait of him painted by Sir 
Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published his Dictionary, 
in the attitude of sitting in his easy chair in deep meditation ; 
which was the first picture his friend did for him. Mr. 
Davies mentioned my name, and respectfully introduced me 

35 to him. I was much agitated ; recollecting his prejudice 
against the Scotch, I said to Davies, "Don't tell where I 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 49 

come from." — "From Scotland," cried Davies, roguishly. 
"Mr. Johnson, (said I) I do indeed come from Scotland, but 
I cannot help it." He seized the expression "come from 
Scotland." "That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of 
your countrymen cannot help." This stroke stunned me a 5 
good deal ; and when we had sat sown, I felt myself not a 
little embarrassed, and apprehensive of what might come next. 
He then addressed himself to Davies : "What do you think 
of Garrick? He has refused me an order for the play for 
Miss Williams, because he knows the house will be full, and 10 
that an order would be worth three shillings." Eager to 
take any opening to get into conversation with him, I ven- 
tured to say, "0, Sir, I cannot think Mr. Garrick would 
grudge such a trifle to you." "Sir, (said he, with a stern look,) 
I have known David Garrick longer than you have done : 15 
and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject." 
I now felt myself much mortified, and began to think, that 
the hope which I had long indulged of obtaining his acquaint- 
ance was blasted. 

Davies followed me to the door, and when I complained to 20 
him a little of the hard blows which the great man had given 
me, he kindly took upon him to console me by saying, "Don't 
be uneasy. I can see he likes you very well." 

A few days afterwards I called on Davies, and asked him if 
he thought I might take the liberty of waiting on Mr. Johnson. 25 
He said I certainly might, and that Mr. Johnson would take 
it as a compliment. His Chambers were on the first floor of 
No. 1, Inner-Temple-lane, and I entered them with an im- 
pression given me by the Reverend Dr. Blair, who described 
his having "found the Giant in his den." At this time the 30 
controversy concerning the pieces published by Mr. James 
Macpherson, as translations of Ossian, was at its height. 
Johnson had all along denied their authenticity ; and, what was 
still more provoking to their admirers, maintained that they 
had no merit. The subject having been introduced by Dr. 35 
Fordyce, Dr. Blair, relying on the internal evidence of their 
antiquity, asked Dr. Johnson whether he thought any man of 



50 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

a modern age could have written such poems? Johnson 
replied, "Yes, Sir, many men, many women, and many 
children." Johnson at this time, did not know that Dr. 
Blair had just published a Dissertation, not only defending 
5 their authenticity; but seriously ranking them with the 
poems of Homer and Virgil ; and when he was afterwards 
informed of this circumstance, he expressed some displeasure 
at Dr. Fordyce's having suggested the topick, and said, "I 
am not sorry that they got thus much for their pains. Sir, 

10 it was like leading one to talk of a book, when the authour is 
concealed behind the door." 

He received me very courteously : but it must be con- 
fessed that his apartment, and furniture, and morning dress, 
were sufficiently uncouth. His brown suit of cloaths looked 

15 very rusty : he had on a little old shrivelled unpowdered wig, 
which was too small for his head ; his shirt-neck and knees 
of his breeches were loose; his black worsted stockings ill 
drawn up ; and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of 
slippers. But all these slovenly particularities were forgotten 

20 the moment that he began to talk. Some gentlemen, whom 
I do not recollect, were sitting with him ; when I rose, he said to 
me, "Nay, don't go." — "Sir, (said I), I am afraid that I intrude 
upon you. It is benevolent to allow me to sit and hear you." 
He seemed pleased with this compliment, which I sincerely 

25 paid him, and answered, "Sir, I am obliged to any man who 
visits me." 

He said: "Christopher Smart, before his confinement, 
used for exercise to walk to the alehouse ; but he was carried 
back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His 

30 infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people 
praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as 
any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean 
linen ; and I have no passion for it." 

He generally went abroad at four in the afternoon, and 

35 seldom came home till two in the morning. I took the liberty 
to ask if he did not think it wrong to live thus, and not make 
more use of his great talents. He owned it was a bad habit. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 51 

I had learnt that his place of frequent resort was the Mitre 
tavern in Fleet-street, where he loved to sit up late, and I 
begged I might be allowed to pass an evening with him there 
soon, which he promised I should. A few days afterwards I 
met him near Temple-bar, about one o'clock in the morning, 5 
and asked him if he would then go to the Mitre. "Sir, (said 
he) it is too late ; they won't let us in. But I'll go with you 
another night with all my heart." 

Happening to dine at Clifton's eating-house, in Butcher- 
row, I was surprised to perceive Johnson come in and take his 10 
seat at another table. He agreed to meet me in the evening 
at the Mitre. I called on him, and we went thither at nine. 
We had a good supper, and port wine, of which he then 
sometimes drank a bottle. The orthodox high-church sound 
of the Mitre, — the figure and manner of the celebrated 15 
Samuel Johnson, — the extraordinary power and precision 
of his conversation, and the pride arising from finding my- 
self admitted as his companion, produced a variety of sensa- 
tions, and a pleasing elevation of mind beyond what I had 
ever before experienced. 20 

"Sir, I do not think Gray a first-rate poet.° He has not 
a bold imagination, nor much command of words. The 
obscurity in which he has involved himself will not persuade 
us that he is sublime. His Elegy in a church-yard has a 
happy selection of images, but I don't like what are called 25 
his great things. His ode which begins 

1 Ruin seize thee, ruthless King, 
Confusion on thy banners wait ! ' 

I has been celebrated for its abruptness, and plunging into the 
• subject all at once. But such arts as these have no merit, 30 

unless when they are original. We admire them only once ; 
i and this abruptness has nothing new in it. We have had 
i it often before. Nay, we have it in the old song of Johhny 

Armstrong : 

1 Is there ever a man in all Scotland, 35 

From the highest estate to the lowest degree, &c.' " 



52 TEE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

I acknowledged, that though educated very strictly in the 

principles of religion, I had for some time been misled into a 

certain degree of infidelity ; but that I was come now to a 

better way of thinking. He called to me with warmth, 

5 "Give me your hand ; I have taken a liking to you." 

"For my part, Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists 
or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their 
differences are trivial, and rather political than religious." 
We talked of belief in ghosts. He said, "Sir, I make a 

10 distinction between what a man may experience by the mere 
strength of his imagination, and what imagination cannot 
possibly produce. Thus, suppose I should think I saw a 
form, and heard a voice cry, c Johnson, you are a very wicked 
fellow, and unless you repent you will certainly be punished ; ' 

15 my own unworthiness is so deeply impressed upon my mind, 
that I might imagine I thus saw and heard, and therefore I 
should not believe that an external communication had been 
made to me. But if a form should appear, and a voice 
should tell me that a particular man had died at a particular 

20 place, and a particular hour, a fact which I had no apprehen- 
sion of, nor any means of knowing, and this fact, with all its 
circumstances, should afterwards be unquestionably proved, 
I should, in that case, be persuaded that I had supernatural 
intelligence imparted to me." 

25 Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and fair state- 
ment of Johnson's way of thinking upon the question, whether 
departed spirits are ever permitted to appear in this world, or 
in any way to operate upon human life. He has been igno- 
rantly misrepresented as weakly credulous upon that subject. 

30 Churchill in his poem entitled " The Ghost," drew a caricature of 
him under the name of "Pomposo," representing him as one 
of the believers of the story of a Ghost in Cock-lane, which, 
in the year 1762, had gained very general credit in London. 
Many of my readers, I am convinced, are to this hour under 

35 an impression that Johnson was thus foolishly deceived. It 
will therefore surprize them a good deal when they are in- 
formed upon undoubted authority, that Johnson was one of 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 53 

those by whom the imposture was detected. The story had 
become so popular, that he thought it should be investigated. 
After the gentlemen who went and examined into the evi- 
dence were satisfied of its falsity, Johnson wrote in their 
presence an account of it, which was published in the news- 5 
papers and Gentleman's Magazine, and undeceived the world. 

I mentioned Mallet's tragedy of "Elvira." Johnson. 
"You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You 
may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though 
you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables." 10 

He proceeded: "Your going abroad, Sir, and breaking off 
idle habits, may be of great importance to you. I would go 
where there are courts and learned men. There is a good 
deal of Spain that has not been perambulated. A man of 
inferiour talents to yours may furnish us with useful observa- 15 
tions upon that country." 

Dr. Oliver Goldsmith had sagacity enough to cultivate as- 
siduously the acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were 
gradually enlarged by the contemplation of such a model. 
No man had the art of displaying with more advantage as 20 
a writer, whatever literary acquisitions he made. "Nihil 
quod tetigit non ornavit." His mind resembled a fertile, but 
thin soil. There was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, of 
whatever chanced to be thrown upon it. No deep root could 
be struck. The oak of the forest did not grow there; but 25 
the elegant shrubbery and the fragrant parterre appeared in 
gay succession. It has been generally circulated and be- 
lieved that he was a mere fool in conversation, but, in truth, 
this has been greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, a more 
than common share of that hurry of ideas which we often 30 
find in his countrymen, and which sometimes produces a 
laughable confusion in expressing them. He was very much 
what the French call un etourdi, and from vanity and an 
eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he fre- 
quently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, 35 
or even without thought. His person was short, his coun- 
tenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar 



54 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

awkwardly affecting the easy gentleman. Those who were 
in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous 
an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible. When 
accompanying tw^o beautiful young ladies with their mother 
5 on a tour in France, he was seriously angry that more atten- 
tion was paid to them than to him ; and once at the exhibition 
of the Fantoccini in London, when those who sat next him 
observed with what dexterity a puppet was made to toss a 
pike, he could not bear that it should have such praise, and 

10 exclaimed with some warmth, " Pshaw! I can do it better 
myself." When he began to rise into notice, he said he had 
a brother who was Dean of Durham, a fiction so easily 
detected that it is wonderful how he should have been so in- 
considerate as to hazard it. He told me that he had sold a 

15 novel for four hundred pounds. This was his Vicar of 
Wakefield. But Johnson informed me, that he had made the 
bargain for Goldsmith, and the price was sixty pounds. 

The history of Goldsmith's situation and Johnson's friendly 
interference, I shall give authentically from Johnson's own 

20 exact narration : 

"I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith 
that he was in great distress, and as it was not in his power 
to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as 
possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him 

25 directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was drest, and 
found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at 
which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had 
already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira 
and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired 

30 he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by 
which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a 
novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked 
into it, and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon 
return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty 

35 pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged 
his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for 
having used him so ill." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 55 

Goldsmith had increased my admiration of the goodness of 
Johnson's heart, by incidental remarks, such as, when I men- 
tioned Mr. Levet, whom he entertained under his roof, "He 
is poor and honest, which is recommendation enough to John- 
son ; " and a He is now become miserable, and that insures the 5 
protection of Johnson. " 

Bonnell Thornton had just published a burlesque " Ode on 
St. Cecilia's day, adapted to the ancient British musick, viz., 
the salt-box, the jews-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, 
the hum-strum or hurdy-gurdy, &c." Johnson praised its 10 
humour, and seemed much diverted with it. He repeated 
the following passage : 

" In strains more exalted the salt-box shall join, 
And clattering and battering and clapping combine ; 
With a rap and a tap while the hollow side sounds, 15 

Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds." 

At this time Miss Williams had so much of his attention, 
that he every night drank tea with her before he went home, 
however late it might be, and she always sat up for him. Dr. 
Goldsmith, being a privileged man, went with him this night, 20 
strutting away, and calling to me with an air of superiority, like 
that of an esoterick over an exoterick disciple of a sage of an- 
tiquity, "I go to see Miss Williams." I confess, I then envied 
him this mighty privilege, of which he seemed so proud ; but 
it was not long before I obtained the same mark of distinction. 25 

Talking of London, he observed, "Sir, if you wish to have 
a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be 
satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must 
survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in 
the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of 30 
human habitations which are crowded together, that the 
wonderful immensity of London consists." 

He was engaged to sup with me at my lodgings. But my 
landlord having behaved very rudely to me, I had resolved 
not to remain another night in his house. I went to Johnson 35 
in the morning, and talked of it as of a serious distress. He 
laughed, and said, " Consider, Sir, how insignificant this will 



56 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

appear a twelvemonth hence. There is nothing (continued 
he) in this mighty misfortune ; nay, we shall be better at the 
Mitre. But, if your landlord could hold you to your bar- 
gain, and the lodgings should be yours for a year, you ma}' 
5 certainly use them as you think fit. So, Sir, you may quarter 
two life-guardsmen upon him ; or you may send the greatest 
scoundrel you can find into your apartments ; or you may say 
that you want to make some experiments in natural philoso- 
phy, and may burn a large quantity of assafoetida in his 

10 house." 

Goldsmith, as usual, endeavoured, with too much eagerness, 
to shine, and disputed very warmly with Johnson against the 
well known maxim of the British constitution, "the King can 
do no wrong." Johxsox. "Sir, you are to consider, that 

15 in our constitution, the King is the head, he is supreme : he 

is above every tiling, and there is no power by which he can 

be tried. Redress is always to be had against oppression, by 

" punishing the immediate agents. And then, Sir, there is this 

consideration, that if the abuse be enormous, Nature will rise 

20 up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political 
system." 

"Great abilities (said he) are not requisite for an His- 
torian ; ° for in historical composition, all the greatest powers 
of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his 

25 hand ; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is 
not required in any high degree; onry about as much as is 
used in the lower kinds of poetry. Some penetration, ac- 
curacy, and colouring, will fit a man for the task, if he can 
give the application which is necessary." 

30 Mr. Ogilvie observed, that Scotland had a great many 
noble wild prospects. Johxsox. "I believe, Sir, you have 
a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects ; and 
Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. 
But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotch- 

35 man ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England !" 

This unexpected and pointed sally produced a roar of applause. 

It happening to be a very rainy night, I made some com- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 57 

mon-place observations on the relaxation of nerves and 
depression of spirits which such weather occasioned; add- 
ing, however, that it was good for the vegetable creation. 
Johnson, who, as we have already seen, denied that the tem- 
perature of the air had any influence on the human frame, 5 
answered, with a smile of ridicule, "Why, yes, Sir, it is good 
for vegetables, and for the animals who eat those vegetables, 
and for the animals who eat those animals. " This observa- 
tion of his aptly enough introduced a good supper. 

He enlarged very convincingly upon the excellence of rhyme 10 
over blank verse in English poetry. I mentioned to him that 
Dr. Adam Smith had maintained the same opinion strenu- 
ously. Johnson. "Sir, I was once in company with Smith, 
and we did not take to each other ; but had I known that he 
loved rhyme as much as you tell me he does, I should have 15 
hugged him." 

He said, "It is always easy to be on the negative side. If 
a man were now to deny that there is salt upon the table, you 
could not reduce him to an absurdity. Come, let us try this 
a little further. I deny that Canada is taken, and I can sup- 20 
port my denial by pretty good arguments. The French are 
a much more numerous people than we ; and it is not likely 
that they would allow us to take it. 'But the ministry have 
assured us, in all the formality of the Gazette, that it is taken.' 
— Very true. But the ministry have put us to an enormous 25 
expence by the war in America, and it is their interest to per- 
suade us that we have got something for our money. — 'But 
the fact is confirmed by thousands of men who were at the 
taking of it.' — Ay, but these men have still more interest in 
deceiving us. They don't want that you should think the 30 
French have beat them, but that they have beat the French. 
Now suppose you should go over and find that it really is 
taken, that would only satisfy yourself; for when you come 
home we will not believe you. We will say, you have been 
bribed. — Yet, Sir, notwithstanding ail these plausible objec-35 
tions, we have no doubt that Canada is really ours. Such is 
the weight of common testimony." 



58 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Numerous reflections had been thrown out against 

him on account of his having accepted a pension from his 

present Majesty. "Why, Sir (said he, with a hearty laugh), 

it is a mighty foolish noise that they make. I have accepted 

5 of a pension as a reward which has been thought due to my 

literary merit ; and now that I have this pension, I am the 

same man in every respect that I have ever been; I retain 

the same principles. It is true, that I cannot now curse 

(smiling) the House of Hanover ; nor would it be decent for 

10 me to drink King James's health in the wine that King 

George gives me money to pay for. But, Sir, I think that the 

pleasure of cursing the House of Hanover, and drinking King 

James' health, are amply overbalanced by three hundred 

" pounds a year." 

15 I heard him once say, "that after the death of a violent 

Whig, with whom he used to contend with great eagerness, 

he felt his Toryism much abated." He said of Jacobitism : 

"A Jacobite is neither an Atheist nor a Deist. That can- 
not be said of a Whig; for Whiggism is a negation of all 
20 principle." 

He was of Lord Essex's opinion, " rather to go a hundred 
miles to speak with one wise man, than five miles to see a fair 
town." 

A person maintained that there was no distinction between 

25 virtue and vice. Johnson. "Why, Sir, if the fellow does 

not think as he speaks, he is lying. But if he does really 

think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, 

why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons." 

He recommended to me to keep a journal of my life, full 

30 and unreserved. He counselled me to keep it private, and 

said I might surely have a friend who would burn it in case 

of my death. " There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little 

a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we 

attain the great art of having as little misery and as much 

35 happiness as possible." 

One morning Mr. Dempster happened to call on me. 
When I complained that drinking port and sitting up late 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 59 

with him affected my nerves for some time after, he said, 
"One had better be palsied at eighteen than not keep com- 
pany with such a man/' 

Mr. Levet once showed me Dr. Johnson's library, which 
was contained in two garrets over his Chambers. I found 5 
a number of good books, but dusty and in great confusion. 
The floor was strewed with manuscript leaves, in Johnson's 
own hand-writing, which I beheld with a degree of venera- 
tion, supposing they perhaps might contain portions of the 
Rambler or of Rasselas. I observed an apparatus for chymical 10 
experiments, of which Johnson was all his life very fond. 
The place seemed to be very favourable for retirement and 
meditation. Johnson told me, that he went up thither with- 
out mentioning it to his servant when he wanted to study, 
secure from interruption ; for he would not allow his servant 15 
to say he was not at home when he really was. "A servant's 
strict regard for truth (said he), must be weakened by such 
a practice. A philosopher may know that it is merely a 
form of denial ; but few servants are such nice distinguishers. 
If I accustom a servant to tell a lie for me, have I not reason 20 
to apprehend that he will tell many lies for himself." 

Johnson. "Pity is not natural to man. Children are 
always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired 
and improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have 
uneasy sensations for seeing a creature in distress, without 25 
pity ; for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them." 

Rousseau's treatise on the inequality of mankind was at 
this time a fashionable topick. Mr. Dempster. "A wise 
man ought to value only merit." . Johnson. "If man were 
a savage, living in the woods by himself, this might be true ; 30 
but in civilized society we all depend upon each other, and 
our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of 
mankind. Now, Sir, in civilized society, external advantages 
make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his 
back meets with a better reception than he who has a bad 35 
one. Sir, you may analyse this, and say what is there in it ? 
But that will avail you nothing, for it is a part of a general 



60 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

system. Pound St. Paul's church into atoms, and consider 
any single atom; it is, to be sure, good for nothing; but, 
put all these atoms together, and you have St. Paul's church. 
In civilized society, personal merit will not serve you so much 
5 as money will. Sir, you may make the experiment. Go 
into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and 
another a shilling, and see which will respect you most. Rous- 
seau, and all those who deal in paradoxes, are led away b}^ a 
childish desire of novelty. When I was a boy, I used always 

10 to choose the wrong side of a debate, because most ingenious 
things, that is to say, most new things, could be said upon 
it. Sir, there is nothing for which you may not muster up 
more plausible arguments, than those which are urged against 
wealth and other external advantages. Why, now, there is 

15 stealing ; why should it be thought a crime ? When I was 
running about this town a very poor fellow, I was a great 
arguer for the advantages of poverty ; but I was, at the same 
time, very sorry to be poor. Sir, all the arguments which 
are brought to represent poverty as no evil, shew it to be 

20 evidently a great evil. You never find people labouring to 
convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful 
fortune." Mr. Dempster having endeavoured to maintain that 
intrinsick merit ought to make the only distinction amongst 
mankind, Johnson said, "Why, Sir, mankind have found that 

25 this cannot be. How shall we determine the proportion of 
intrinsick merit ? Were that to be the only distinction 
amongst mankind, we should soon quarrel about the degrees 
of it. Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. 
Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other en- 

30Joyment than mere animal pleasure." 

"No man (said Johnson) who ever lived by literature, has 
lived more independently than I have done." He said he had 
taken longer time than he needed to have done in composing 
his Dictionar}^. He received our compliments upon that 

35 great work with complacenc}^, and told us that the Academy 
delta Crusca could scarcely believe that it was done by one 
man. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 61 

At night, Mr. Johnson and I supped in a private room at 
the Turk's Head coffee-house, in the Strand. "I encourage 
this house (said he), for the mistress of it is a good civil 
woman, and has not much business." 

"Sir, I love the acquaintance of young people ; because, in 5 
the first place, I don't like to think myself growing old. In 
the next place, young acquaintances must last longest, if they 
do last ; and then, Sir, young men have more virtue than old 
men; they have more generous sentiments in every respect. 
I love the young dogs of this age, they have more wit and 10 
humour and knowledge of life than we had; but then the 
dogs are not so good scholars. Sir, in my early years 
I read very hard. It is a sad reflection but a true one, that 
I knew almost as much at eighteen as I do now. My judge- 
ment, to be sure, was not so good ; but I had all the facts." 15 

" I would behave to a nobleman as I should expect he would 
behave to me, were I a nobleman and he Sam Johnson. Sir, 
there is one Mrs. Macaulay in this town, a great republican. 
One day when I was at her house, I put on a very grave 
countenance, and said to her, 'Madam, I am now become a 20 
convert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all 
mankind are upon an equal footing ; and to give you an un- 
questionable proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a 
very sensible, civil, well-behaved fellow-citizen, yovoc footman ; 
I desire that he may be allowed to sit down and dine with us.' 25 
I thus, Sir, shewed her the absurdity of the levelling doctrine. 
She has never liked me since. Sir, your levellers wish to level 
down as far as themselves ; but they cannot bear levelling up 
to themselves." 

He said, he would go to the Hebrides with me, unless some 30 
very good companion should offer when I was absent, which 
he did not think probable; adding, "There are few people 
whom I take so much to as you." 

We talked of the education of children ; and I asked him 
what he thought was best to teach them first. Johnson. 35 
"Sir, it is no matter what you teach them first, any more 
than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, 



62 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

you may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in 
the mean time your breech is bare. Sir, while you are con- 
sidering which of two things you should teach your child 
first, another boy has learnt them both/' 
5 "I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit 
and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch 
and tumbling into it." 

"Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must, 
have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now 

10 see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature." 
" Sir, what influence can Mr. Sheridan have upon the lan- 
guage of this great country, by his narrow exertions ? Sir, it is 
burning a farthing candle at Dover, to shew light at Calais." 
"Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of mind. One 

15 night, when Floyd, another poor authour, was wandering 
about the streets in the night, he found Derrick fast asleep 
upon a bulk; upon being suddenly waked, Derrick started 
up, 'My dear Floyd, I am sorry to see you in this destitute 
state : will you go home with me to my lodgings?' " 

20 I again begged his advice as to my method of study at 
Utrecht. "Come, (said he) let us make a day of it. Let us 
go down to Greenwich and dine, and talk of it there." 

Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the Temple stairs, and 
set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really thought a 

25 knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential 
requisite to a good education. Johnson. "Most certainly, 
Sir." "And yet, (said I) people go through the world very 
well, and carry on the business of life to good advantage, 
without learning." Johnson. "Wiry, Sir, that may be true 

30 in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use ; for 
instance, this boy rows us as well without learning, as if he 
could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were 
the first sailors." He then called" to the boy, "What would 
you give, my lad, to know about the Argonauts?" "Sir 

35 (said the boy), I would give what I have." Johnson was much 
pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Dr. 
Johnson then turning to me, "Sir (said he), a desire of know- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 63 

ledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human 
being, whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give 
all that he has, to get knowledge/' We landed at the Old 
Swan, and walked to Billingsgate, where we took oars and 
moved smoothly along the silver Thames. It was a very fine 5 
day. We were entertained with the immense number and 
variety of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the 
beautiful country on each side of the. river. 

I talked of preaching, and of the great success which those 
called methodists have. Johnson. "Sir, it is owing to 10 
their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner. 
To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases 
reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to 
the common people ; but to tell them that they may die in a 
fit of drunkenness, and shew them how dreadful that would 15 
be, cannot fail to make a deep impression. Sir, when your 
Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion will 
soon decay in that country." Let this observation, as John- 
son meant it, be ever remembered. 

He remarked that the structure of Greenwich hospital was 20 
too magnificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were 
too much detached, to make one great whole. 

He spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty of Latin verse. 
"All the modern languages (said he) cannot furnish so melo- 
dious a line as 25 

" Formosam resonare doces Amarillida silvas." ° 

Afterwards he entered upon the business of the day, which 
was to give me his advice as to a course of study. I recollect 
with admiration an animating blaze of eloquence, which roused 30 
every intellectual power in me to the highest pitch. He 
ran over the grand scale of human knowledge; advised me 
to select some particular branch to excel in, but to acquire 
a little of every kind. 

We walked in the evening in Greenwich Park. He asked me 35 
"Is not this very fine?" I answered, "Yes, Sir; but not 
equal to Fleet-street." Johnson. "You are right, Sir." 



64 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

A very fashionable Baronet, on his attention being called 
to the fragrance of a May evening in the country, observed, 
"This may be very well; but for my part, I prefer the smell 
of a flambeau at the play-house. " 
5 Our sail up the river, in our return to London, was by no 
means so pleasant as in the morning ; for the night air was 
so cold that it made me shiver. I was the more sensible of 
it from having sat up all the night before recollecting and 
writing in my Journal. I remember having sat up four nights 

10 in one week. Johnson, whose robust frame was not in the 
least affected by the cold, scolded me, as if my shivering had 
been a paltry effeminacy, saying, "Why do you shiver?" 
Sir William Scott, of the Commons, told me, that when he 
complained of a head-ache in the post-chaise, as they were 

15 travelling together to Scotland, Johnson treated him in the 
same manner: "At your age, Sir, I had no head-ache." 
We concluded the day at the Turk's Head coffee-house very 
socially. 

At a meeting of the people called Quakers, I had heard a 

20 woman preach. Johnson. "Sir, a woman's preaching is 
like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; 
but you are surprised to find it done at all." 

He said, that "he always felt an inclination to do nothing." 
I observed, that it was strange to think that the most indolent 

25 man in Britain had written the most laborious work, The Eng- 
lish Dictionary. 

I had now made good my title to be a privileged man and 
was carried by him in the evening to drink tea with Miss 
Williams. She was well acquainted with his habits, and knew 

30 how to lead him on to talk. After tea he carried me to what 
he called his walk, which was a long narrow paved court in 
the neighbourhood, overshadowed by some trees. I men- 
tioned to him how common it was in the world to tell absurd 
stories of him, and to ascribe to him very strange sayings. 

35 Johnson. "What do they make me say, Sir ? " Boswell. 
"Why, Sir, (laughing heartily as I spoke,) David Hume told 
me, you said that you would stand before a battery of cannon 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 65 

to restore the Convocation to its full powers. " — Little did I 
apprehend that he had actually said this : but I was soon 
convinced of my errour; for, with a determined look, he 
thundered out, "And would I not, Sir? Shall the Pres- 
byterian Kirk ° of Scotland have its General Assembly, and 5 
the Church of England be denied its Convocation ? " He 
was walking up and down the room, while I told him the 
anecdote ; but when he uttered this explosion of high-church 
zeal, he had come close to my chair, and his eye flashed with 
indignation. 10 

In the Harwich stage-coach, a fat elderly gentlewoman, 
and a young Dutchman, seemed the most inclined among us 
to conversation. At the inn where we dined, the gentle- 
woman said that she had done her best to educate her chil- 
dren ; and, particularly, that she had never suffered them to be 15 
a moment idle. Johnson. "I wish, Madam, you would 
educate me too; for I have been an idle fellow all my life." 
"I am sure, Sir, (said she) you have not been idle." John- 
son. "Nay, Madam, it is very true; and that gentleman 
there, (pointing to me,) has been idle. He was idle at Edin- 20 
burgh. His father sent him to Glasgow, where he con- 
tinued to be idle. He then came to London, where he has 
been very idle; and now he is going to Utrecht, where he 
will be as idle as ever." I asked him privately how he could 
expose me so. Johnson. "Poh, poh ! (said he) they knew 25 
nothing about you, and will think of it no more." To the 
utter astonishment of all the passengers but myself, who knew 
that he could talk upon any side of a question, he defended 
the Inquisition. Having observed at one of the stages that 
I ostentatiously gave a shilling to the coachman, when the 30 
custom was for each passenger to give only six-pence, he took 
me aside and scolded me, saying that what I had done would 
make the coachman dissatisfied with all the rest of the pas- 
sengers who gave him no more than his due. 

When at table, he was totally absorbed in the business of 35 
the moment ; his looks seemed riveted to his plate ; nor 
would he, unless when in very high company, say one word 

F 



66 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

or even pay the least attention to what was said by others, 
till he had satisfied his appetite : which was so fierce, and in- 
dulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, 
the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong per- 
5 spiration was visible. To those whose sensations were deli- 
cate, this could not but be disgusting. Johnson, though he 
could be rigidly abstemious, was not a temperate man. I re- 
member when he was in Scotland, his praising "Gordon's 
palates," with a warmth of expression which might have done 

10 honour to more important subjects. "As for Maclaurin's 
imitation of ft made dish, it was a wretched attempt." He 
about the same time was so much displeased with the per- 
formances of a nobleman's French cook, that he exclaimed 
with vehemence, "I'd throw such a rascal into the river;" 

15 and he then proceeded to alarm a lady at whose house he was 
to sup, by the following manifesto of his skill: "I, Madam, 
who live at a variety of good tables, am a much better judge 
of cookery, than any person who has a very tolerable cook, 
but lives much at home ; for his palate is gradually adapted 

20 to the taste of his cook: whereas, Madam, in trying by a 
wider range, I can more exquisitely judge." When invited 
to dine, even with an intimate friend, he was not pleased if 
something better than a plain dinner was not prepared for 
him. I have heard him say on such an occasion, "This was 

25 a good dinner enough, to be sure : but it was not a dinner 
to as A; a man to." One day when he had dined with his 
neighbour and landlord, in Bolt-court, Mr. Allen, the printer, 
whose old housekeeper had studied his taste in every thing, 
he pronounced this eulogy: "Sir, we could not have had a 

30 better dinner had there been a Synod of Cooks." ° 

Johnson said, " I never considered whether I should be a 
grave man, or a merry man, but just let inclination, for the 
time, have its course." We stood talking for some time 
together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove 

35 the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the 
universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are 
satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 67 

I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, 
striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone till he 
rebounded from it, — "I refute it thus" To me it is not 
conceivable how Berkeley can be answered by pure reasoning ; 
but I know that the nice and difficult task was to have been 5 
undertaken by one of the most luminous minds ° of the pre- 
sent age, had not politicks " turned him from calm philosophy 
aside/' 

My revered friend walked down with me to the beach, where 
we embraced and parted with tenderness, and engaged to 10 
correspond by letters. 

To Boswell. 

"There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of 
distinction which inclines every man first to hope, and then 
to believe, that nature has given him something peculiar to 15 
himself. Every desire is a viper in the bosom, who, while he 
was chill, was harmless ; but when warmth gave him strength, 
exerted it in poison. You know a gentleman, who, when 
first he set his foot in the gay world, imagined a total indiffer- 
ence and universal negligence to be the strongest indication 20 
of an airy temper and a quick apprehension. He tried this 
scheme of life awhile, was made weary of it by his sense and 
his virtue ; he then wished to return to his studies ; and find- 
ing long habits of idleness and pleasure harder to be cured 
than he expected, concluded that Nature had originally 25 
formed him incapable of rational employment. Resolve, 
and keep your resolution ; choose, and pursue your choice. 

Sam. Johnson." 

To a lady who endeavoured to vindicate herself from blame 
for neglecting social attention to worthy neighbours, by say- 30 
ing, "I would go to them if it would do them any good ;" he ' 
said, "What good, Madam, do you expect to have in your 
power to do them ? It is shewing them respect, and that is 
doing them good." 

So socially accommodating was he, that once when Mr. 35 



68 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Langton and he were driving together in a coach, and Mr. 
Langton complained of being sick, he insisted that they should 
go out, and sit on the back of it in the open air, which they did. 
And being sensible how strange the appearance must be, ob- 
5 served, that a count^man whom they saw in a field would 
probably be thinking, "If these two madmen should come 
down, what would become of me?" 

Soon after his return to London, which was in February, 
1764, was founded that Club which existed long without a 

10 name, but at Mr. Garrick's funeral became distinguished by 
the title of The Literary Club. Sir Joshua Reynolds had 
the merit of being the first proposer of it, to which Johnson 
acceded ; and the original members were, Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
Dr. Johnson, Mr. Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Mr. Beauclerk, 

15 Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Chamier, and Sir John Haw- 
kins. They met at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard-street, Soho, 
one evening in every week, at seven, and generally continued 
their conversation till a pretty late hour. This club has been 
gradually increased to its present number, thirty-five. After 

20 about ten years, instead of supping weekly, it was resolved 
to dine together once a fortnight during the meeting of Par- 
liament. Their original tavern having been converted into 
a private house, they moved first to Prince's in Sackville- 
street, then to Le Teller's in Dover-street and now meet at 

25 Parsloe's, St. James' s-street. 

Sir John Hawkins ° represents himself as a "seceder." The 
fact was, that he one evening attacked Mr. Burke, in so rude 
a manner, that all the company testified their displeasure; 
and at their next meeting his reception was such, that he never 

30 came again. 

Not very long after the institution of our club, Sir Joshua 

Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick. "I like it much, 

' (said he,) I think I shall be of you." Dr. Johnson was much 

displeased with the actor's conceit. "He'll be of us, (said 

35 Johnson) how does he know we will permit him ? The first 
Duke in England has no right to hold such language." 
However, when Garrick was regularly proposed, Johnson 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 69 

warmly and kindly supported him, and he was accordingly 
elected. 

He had a particularity, of which none of his friends 
even ventured to ask an explanation. This was his anxious 
care to go out or in at a door or passage, by a certain number 5 
of steps from a certain point, or at least so as that either his 
right or his left foot, (I am not certain which,) should constantly 
make the first actual movement when he came close to the door 
or passage. Thus I conjecture : for I have, upon innumerable 
occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count 10 
his steps with a deep earnestness ; and when he had neglected 
or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I have seen 
him go back again, put himself in a proper posture to begin 
the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his 
abstraction, walk briskly on and join his companion. Sir 15 
Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a good way about 
rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-fields. 

While talking or even musing as he sat in his chair, he com- 
monly held his head to one side towards his right shoulder, 
and shook it in a tremulous manner, moving his body back- 20 
wards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee in the same 
direction, with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of 
articulating he made various sounds with his mouth ; some- 
times as if ruminating, or what is called chewing the cud, 
sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes making his 25 
tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth, as if 
clucking like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his 
upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under his 
breath, too, too, too: all this accompanied sometimes with a 
thoughtful look, but more frequently with a smile. Gen- 30 
erally when he had concluded a period, in the course of a 
dispute, by which time he was a good deal exhausted by vio- 
lence and vociferation, he used to blow out his breath like a 
whale, a contemptuous mode of expression, as if he had made 
the arguments of his opponent fly like chaff before the wind. 35 

# He paid a short visit to the University of Cambridge, with 
his friend Mr. Beauclerk. There is a lively picturesque ac- 



70 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

count of his behaviour in the Gentleman's Magazine for March 
1785. "He drank his large potations of tea, interrupted by 
many an indignant contradiction, and many a noble senti- 
ment/' — " Several persons got into his company the last 
5 evening at Trinity, where, about twelve, he began to be very 
great ; stripped poor Mrs. Macaulay to the very skin, then 
gave her for his toast, and drank her in two bumpers." 

In his diary: "July 2. I paid Mr. Simpson ten guineas, 
which he had formerly lent me in my necessity, and for which 

loTetty expressed her gratitude." 

"July 8. I lent Mr. Simpson ten guineas more." 
Trinity College, Dublin, at this time surprised Johnson with 
a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, 
by creating him Doctor of Laws. His "Prayer before the 

15 Study of Law : " 

"Almighty God, the giver of wisdom, without whose help 
resolutions are vain, without whose blessings study is inef- 
fectual ; enable me, if it be thy will, to attain such knowledge 
as may qualify me to direct the doubtful and instruct the 

20 ignorant; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions." 

His prayer in the view of becoming a politician is entitled, 

"Engaging in Politicks with H — n," no doubt, his friend, 

the Right Honourable William Gerard Hamilton, to whose 

conversation he once paid this high compliment : "I am very 

25 unwilling to be left alone, Sir, and therefore I go with my 
company down the first pair of stairs, in some hopes that they 
may, perhaps, return again ; I go with you, Sir, as far as the 
street-door." His prayer is in general terms: "Enlighten 
my understanding with knowledge of right, and govern my 

30 will by thy laws, that no deceit may mislead me, nor tempta- 
tion corrupt me ; that I may always endeavour to do good, 
and hinder evil." 

This year, 1765, was distinguished by his being introduced 
into the family of Mr. Thrale, one of the most eminent 

35 brewers in England, and member of Parliament for the borough 
of Southwark. Johnson used to give this account of the rise 
of Mr. Thrale's father : "He worked at six shillings a week for 



71 

twenty years in the great brewery, which afterwards was his 
own. The proprietor of it had an only daughter, who was 
married to a nobleman. It was not fit that a peer should 
continue the business. It was suggested, that it would be 
advisable to treat with Thrale, a sensible, active, honest man, 5 
who had been employed in the house, and to transfer the 
whole to him for thirty thousand pounds, security being taken 
upon the property. This was accordingly settled. In eleven 
years Thrale paid the purchase-money. He acquired a large 
fortune, and lived to be a member of Parliament for South- 10 
wark. But what was most remarkable was the liberality 
with which he used his riches. He gave his son and daughters 
the best education. He used to say, 'If this young dog does 
not find so much after I am gone as he expects, let him re- 
member that he has had a great deal in my own time. '" 15 
The son, though in affluent circumstances, had good sense 
enough to carry on his father's trade, which was of such ex- 
tent, that I remember he once told me, he would not quit it 
for an annuity of ten thousand a year. 

Mr. Thrale had married Miss Hester Lynch Salusbury, of 20 
good Welch extraction, a lady of lively talents, improved by 
education. That Johnson's introduction into Mr. Thrale's 
family, which contributed so much to the happiness of his life, 
was owing to her desire for his conversation, is a very probable 
and the general supposition : but it is not the truth. Mr. 25 
Murphy, who was intimate with Mr. Thrale, having spoken 
very highly of Dr. Johnson, he was requested to make them 
acquainted. This being mentioned to Johnson, he accepted 
of an invitation to dinner at Thrale's, and was so much pleased 
with his reception, both by Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, and they so 30 
much pleased with him, that his invitations to their house 
were more and more frequent, till at last he became one of the 
family, and an apartment was appropriated to him, both in 
their house at Southwark and in their villa at Streatham. 

"I know no man, (said he,) who is more master of his 35 
wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds up a finger, 
he is obeyed. It is a great mistake to suppose that she is 



12 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

above him in literary attainments. She is more flippant; 
but he has ten times her learning : he is a regular scholar ; 
but her learning is that of a school-boy in one of the lower 
forms/' My readers may naturally wish for some represen- 
5 tation of the figures of this couple. Mr. Thrale was tall, 
well proportioned, and stately. As for Madam, or my Mis- 
tress, by which epithets Johnson used to mention Mrs. Thrale, 
she was short, plump, and brisk. She has herself given us a 
lively view of the idea which Johnson had of her person, on 

10 her appearing before him in a dark-coloured gown: "You 
little creatures should never wear those sort of clothes, how- 
ever ; they are unsuitable in every way. What ! have not 
all insects gay colours?" 

Nothing could be more fortunate for Johnson than this 

15 connection. He had at Mr. Thrale's all the comforts and 
even luxuries of life : his melancholy was diverted, and his 
irregular habits lessened by association with an agreeable 
and well-ordered family. He was treated with the utmost 
respect, and even affection. The vivacity of Mrs. Thrale Y 

20 literary talk roused him to cheerfulness and exertion, ever 
when they were alone. But this was not often the case 
for he found here a constant succession of what gave him the 
highest enjoyment, the society of the learned, the witty, anc 
the eminent in every way. 

25 He at length gave to the world his edition of Shakspeare 
A blind indiscriminate admiration of Shakspeare had ex- 
posed the British nation to the ridicule of foreigners. John- 
son, by candidly admitting the faults of his poet, had the 
more credit in bestowing on him deserved and indisputable 

30 praise ; and doubtless none of all his panegyrists have done 
him half so much honour. His Shakspeare was virulentlj 
attacked by Mr. William Kenrick, who wrote for the book- 
sellers in a great variety of branches. When some of hh 
works were mentioned, Dr. Goldsmith said he had nevei 

35 heard of them; upon which Dr. Johnson observed, "Sir, h( 
is one of the many who have made themselves publick, with- 
out making themselves known." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 73 

From one of his Journals I transcribed what follows : 

"At church, Oct. — 65. 

"To avoid all singularity. 

"To come in before sendee, and' compose my mind by medi- 
tation, or by reading some portions of scripture. Tetty. 5 

"If I can hear the sermon, to attend it, unless attention be 
more troublesome than useful. 

"To consider the act of prayer as a reposal of myself upon 
God, and a resignation of all into his holy hand." 

In writing Dedications, that courtly species of composition, 10 
no man excelled Dr. Johnson. Though the loftiness of his 
mind prevented him from ever dedicating in his own person, 
he wrote a very great number of Dedications for others. He 
told me, a great many years ago, "he believed he had dedi- 
cated to all the Royal Family round." 15 

I found Dr. Johnson in a good house in Johnson's court, 
Fleet-street, in which he had accommodated Miss Williams 
with an apartment on the ground floor, while Mr. Levet 
occupied his post in the garret : his faithful Francis was still 
attending upon him. He said of Goldsmith's "Traveller," 20 
which had been published in my absence, "There has not 
been so fine a poem since Pope's time." 

He at my request marked with a pencil the lines which he 
had furnished, which are only line 420th, 

11 To stop too fearful, and too faint to go ; " 25 

and the concluding ten fines, except the last couplet but one. 
Dr. Johnson at the same time favoured me by marking the 
lines which he furnished to Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," 
which are only the last four : 

" That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, 30 

As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away : 
While self-dependent power can time defy, 
As rocks resist the billows and the sky." 

I mentioned that a gay friend had advised me against 
being a lawyer, because I should be excelled by plodding 35 



74 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

blockheads. Johnson. "Why, Sir, in the formulary and 
statutory part of law, a plodding blockhead may excel ; but 
in the ingenious and rational part of it a plodding blockhead 
can never excel." 
5 Johnson. "Sir, I never was near enough to great men to 
court them. You may be prudently attached to great men, 
and yet independent. You must not give a shilling's worth 
of court for sixpence worth of good. But if you can get a 
shilling's worth of good for sixpence worth of court, }^ou are 

10 a fool if you do not pay court." 

He said, "If convents should be allowed at all, they should 
only be retreats for persons unable to serve the publick, or 
who have served it. It is our first duty to serve society ; and, 
after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salva- 

15 tion of our own souls. A youthful passion for abstracted 
devotion should not be encouraged." 

Johnson said (sarcastically), "It seems, Sir, you have kept 
very good company abroad, Rousseau and Wilkes !" ° Think- 
ing it enough to defend one at a time, I said nothing as to 

20 my gay friend, but answered with a smile, "My dear Sir, 
you don't call Rousseau bad company. Do you really think 
him a bad man?" Johnson. " Rousseau, Sir, is a very bad 
man. I would sooner sign a sentence for his transportation, 
than that of any felon who has gone from the Old Baile}^ 

25 these man}^ years. Yes, I should like to have him work in 
the plantations." Boswell. "Sir, do you think him as 
bad a man as Voltaire?" Johnson. "Wiry, Sir, it is diffi- 
cult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them." 
Another evening we found him indisposed, "Come then 

30 (said Goldsmith), we will not go to the Mitre to-night since 
we cannot have the big man with us." Johnson then called 
for a bottle of port, of which Goldsmith and I partook, while 
our friend, now a water-drinker, sat by us. Goldsmith. "I 
think, Mr. Johnson, you don't go near the theatres now. 

35 You give yourself no more concern about a new play, than if 
you had never had anything to do with the stage." John- 
son. "Why, Sir, our tastes greatly alter." Boswell. "But, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 75 

Sir, why don't you give us something in some other way?" 
Goldsmith. "Ay, Sir, we have a claim upon you." John- 
son. "No, Sir, I am not obliged to do any more. Xo man 
is obliged to do as much as he can do. A man is to have 
part of his life to himself. Now, Sir, the good I can do by 5 
my conversation bears the same proportion to the good I 
can do by my writings that the practice of a physician, retired 
to a small town, does to his practice in a great city." Bos- 
well. "But I wonder, Sir, you have not more pleasure in 
writing than in not writing." Johnson. "Sir, you may 10 
wonder. I have written a hundred lines in a day. I re- 
member I wrote a hundred lines of ' The Vanity of Human 
Wishes/ in a day. Doctor (turning to Goldsmith), I am 
not quite idle ; I made one line t'other day ; but I made no 
more." Goldsmith. "Let us hear it; we'll put a bad one 15 
to it." Johnson. "No, Sir; I have forgot it." 
The following letter to Mr. Langton is of interest: 

To Bennet Langton. 

"Since you will not inform us where you are, of how you 
live, I know not whether you desire to know any thing of us. 20 
However, I will tell you that the club subsists ; but we have 
the loss of Burke's company since he has been engaged in 
publick business in which he has gained more reputation than 
perhaps any man at his [first] appearance ever gained before. 
He made two speeches in the House for repealing the Stamp- 25 
act, which were publickly commended by Mr. Pitt, and have 
filled the town with wonder. 

"Burke is a great man by nature, and is expected soon to 
attain civil greatness. I am grown greater too, for I have 
maintained the newspapers these many weeks ; and what is 30 
greater still, I have risen every morning since New-year's 
day, at about eight : when I was up, I have indeed done but 
little ; yet it is no slight advancement to obtain for so many 
hours more, the consciousness of being. 

"I wish you were in my new study; I am now writing 35 



76 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

my first letter in it. I think it looks very pretty about 
me. 

"The Club holds very well together. Monday is my 
night. I continue to rise tolerably well, and read more 
5 than I did. I hope something will yet come on it. Sam. 
Johnson. " 

"Do not accustom yourself to enchain your volatility by 
vows ; they will sometime leave a thorn in your mind, which 
you will, perhaps, never be able to extract or eject. Take 
10 this warning; it is of great importance/' 

Mr. Cuthbert Shaw published the following portrait of 
Johnson : 

" Here Johnson comes, — unblest with outward grace, 
His rigid morals stamp'd upon his face." 

15 In February, 1767, there happened one of the most re- 
markable incidents of Johnson's life, which gratified his 
monarchical enthusiasm, and which he loved to relate with 
all its circumstances, when requested by his friends. This 
was his being honoured by a private conversation with his 

20 Majesty, in the library at the Queen's house. He had fre- 
quently visited those splendid rooms, and noble collection of 
books. Mr. Barnard, the librarian, took care that he should 
have here a very agreeable resource at leisure hours. 

His Majesty having been informed of his occasional visits, 

25 was pleased to signify a desire that he should be told when 
Dr. Johnson came next to the library. 

His Majesty began by observing, that he understood he 
came sometimes to the librae; then mentioned his hav- 
ing heard that the Doctor had been lately at Oxford, and 

30 asked him if he was not fond of going thither. To which 
Johnson answered, that he was indeed fond of going to Oxford 
sometimes, but was likewise glad to come back again. He 
was then asked whether there were better libraries at Oxford 
or Cambridge. He answered, he believed the Bodleian was 

35 larger than any they had at Cambridge; at the same time 
adding, "I hope, whether we have more books or not than 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 77 

they have at Cambridge, we shall make as good use of them 
as they do." 

His Majesty enquired if he was then writing any thing. 
He answered he was not, for he had pretty well told the 
world what he knew, and must now read to acquire more 5 
knowledge. The King, as it should seem with a view to 
urge him to rely on his own stores as an original writer, and 
to continue his labours, then said: "I do not think you borrow 
much from any body." Johnson said, he thought he had 
already done his part as a writer. "I should have thought 10 
so too (said the King), if you had not written so well." When 
asked at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, whether he made any reply 
to this high compliment, he answered, "No, Sir. It was not 
for me to bandy civilities with my Sovereign." 

His Majesty then talked of the controversy between War- 15 
burton and Lowth, and asked Johnson what he thought of 
it. Johnson answered, "Warburton has most general, most 
scholastic learning ; Lowth is the more correct scholar. I do 
not know which of them calls names best." "Why, truly 
(said the King), when once it comes to calling names, argu-20 
ment is pretty well at an end." 

The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Trans- 
actions, when Johnson observed that they had now a better 
method of arranging their materials than formerly. "Ay 
(said the King), they are obliged to Dr. Johnson for that." 25 

During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his 
Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly 
manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued 
tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing 
room. After the King withdrew, he said to Mr. Barnard, 30 
"Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the 
finest gentleman I have ever seen." And he afterwards ob- 
served to Mr. Langton, "Sir, his manners are those of as 
fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth 
or Charles the Second." 35 

At Sir Joshua Reynolds's, where a circle of Johnson's 
friends was collected round him to hear his account of this 



<8 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

memorable conversation, he told them, "I found his Majesty 
wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I 
find it does a man good to be talked to by his sovereign." 
During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in 
5 relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds's the particulars 
of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith 
remained unmoved upon a sopha at some distance, affecting 
not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the company. 
At length, the frankness, and simplicity of his natural char- 

10 acter prevailed. He sprung from the sopha, advanced to 
Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in 
the situation which he had just been hearing described, ex- 
claimed, "Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation 
better than I should have done ; for I should have bowed and 

15 stammered through the whole of it." 

He passed three months at Lichfield : and I cannot omit 
an affecting and solemn scene there, as related by himself : 

"Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yesterday, Oct. 17, at about ten 
in the morning, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, 

20 Catharine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 
1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She 
buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now 
fifty-eight years old. 

"I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we were to 

25 part for ever ; that as Christians we should part with prayer ; 
and that I would, if she was willing, say a short prayer beside 
her. She expressed great desire to hear me ; and held up her 
poor hands as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I 
prayed, kneeling by her." 

30 A ridicule of his style, under the title of "Lexiphanes," 
Sir John Hawkins ascribes to Dr. Kenrick; but its authour 
was one Campbell, a Scotch purser in the navy. The ridi- 
cule consisted in applying Johnson's "words of large mean- 
ing," to insignificant matters. 

35 Boswell. "But what do you think of supporting a cause 
which you know to be bad?" Johnson. "Sir, you do not 
know it to be good or bad till the judge determines it. I 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 79 

have said that you are to state facts fairly; so that your 
thinking, or what you call knowing, a cause to be bad, must 
be from reasoning, must be from your supposing your argu- 
ments to be weak and inconclusive. But, Sir, that is not 
enough. An argument which does not convince yourself, 5 
may convince the Judge to whom you urge it." 

He praised Goldsmith's " Good-natured Man"; said, it 
was the best comedy, that had appeared since " The Provoked 
Husband," and that there had not been of late any such char- 
acter exhibited on the stage as that of Croaker. I observed 10 
it was the Suspirius of his Rambler. He said, Goldsmith 
had owned he had borrowed it from thence. "Sir (continued 
he) , there is all the difference in the world between characters 
of nature and characters of manners ; and there is the differ- 
ence between the characters of Fielding and those of Richard- 15 
son."° 

"I used once to be sadly plagued with a man who wrote 
verses, but who literally had no other notion of a verse, but 
that it consisted of ten syllables. Lay your knife and your 
fork, across your plate, was to him a verse : 20 

Lay your knife and }^our fork, across your plate. 
As he wrote a great number of verses, he sometimes by chance 
made good ones, though he did not know it." 

He said he had lately been a long while at Lichfield, but 
had grown very weary before he left it. Boswell. "I won- 25 
der at that, Sir ; it is your native place." Johnson. "Why 
so is Scotland your native place." 

His prejudice against Scotland appeared remarkably strong 
at this time. When I talked of our advancement in literature, 
"Sir (said he), you have learnt a little from us, and you think 30 
yourselves very great men. Hume would never have written 
History, had not Voltaire written it before him. He is an 
echo of Voltaire." Boswell. "But, Sir, we have Lord 
Karnes." Johnson. "You have Lord Karnes. Keep him; 
ha, ha, ha ! We don't envy you him. Do you ever see Dr. 35 
Robertson?" Boswell. "Yes, Sir." Johnson. "Does 
the dog talk of me?" Boswell. "Indeed, Sir, he does, 



80 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

and loves you." Thinking that I now had him in a corner, 
and being solicitous for the literary fame of my country, I 
pressed him for his opinion on the merit of Dr. Robertson's 
History of Scotland. But, to my surprize, he escaped : 
5 "Sir, I love Robertson and I won't talk of his book." 

An essay, maintaining the future life of brutes, w T as men- 
tioned, and the doctrine insisted on by a gentleman who 
seemed fond of curious speculation. Johnson discouraged 
this talk ; and being offended at its continuation, he watched 

10 an opportunity to give the gentleman a blow of reprehension. 
So, when the poor speculatist, with a serious metaphysical 
pensive face, addressed him, "But really, Sir, when we see 
a very sensible dog, we don't know what to think of him," 
Johnson, rolling with joy at the thought which beamed in 

15 his eye, turned quickly round, and replied, "True, Sir: and 
when we see a very foolish fellow, we don't know what to 
think of him." He then rose up, strided to the fire, and stood 
for some time laughing and exulting. 

I asked him if it was not hard that one deviation from 

20 chastity should so absolutely ruin a young woman. John- 
son. "Why no, Sir; it is the great principle which she is 
taught. When she has given up that, she has given up every 
notion of female honour and virtue, which are all included in 
chastity." 

25 A gentleman talked to him of a lady whom he greatly ad- 
mired and wished to marry, but was afraid of her superiority 
of talents. "Sir (said he), you need not be afraid; marry 
her. Before a year goes about, you'll find that reason much 
weaker, and that w T it not so bright." 

30 At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a 
short Greek inscription, taken from the New Testament, 
Ni>£ yap epx erat > "the night cometh when no man can work." 
He sometime afterwards laid aside this dial-plate. "It 
might do very well upon a clock which a man keeps in his 

35 closet ; but to have it upon his watch which he carries about 
with him, and which is often looked at by others, might be 
censured as ostentatious." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 81 

Asking him explicitly whether it would be improper to 
publish his letters after his death, his answer was, "Nay, 
Sir, when I am dead, you may do as you will." 

He talked in his usual style with a rough contempt of popu- 
lar liberty. "They make a rout about universal liberty, with- 5 
out considering that all that is to be valued, or indeed can be 
enjoyed by individuals is private liberty. Political liberty is 
good only so far as it produces private liberty. Now, Sir, 
there is the liberty of the press, which you know is a constant 
topick. Suppose you and I and two hundred more were 10 
restrained from printing our thoughts : what then ? What 
proportion would that restraint upon us bear to the private 
happiness of the nation?" 

He supped at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, 
with a company whom I collected to meet him. With an 15 
excess of prudence, for which Johnson afterwards found fault 
with them, they hardly opened their lips, and that only to 
say something which they were certain would not expose 
them to the sword of Goliath. 

Recollecting that Mr. Davies, by acting as an informer, 20 
had been the occasion of his talking somewhat too harshly 
to his friend, Dr. Percy, he took an opportunity to give him 
a hit: so added, with a preparatory laugh, "Why, Sir, Tom 
Davies might have written the ' Conduct of the Allies.'" 
Poor Tom being thus suddenly dragged into ludicrous notice 25 
in the presence of the Scottish Doctors, to whom he was 
ambitious of appearing to advantage, was grievously mor- 
tified. Nor did his punishment rest here; for upon sub- 
sequent occasions, whenever he, "statesman all o'er," assumed 
a strutting importance, I used to hail him — "the Authour 30 
of the Conduct of the Allies." 

When I called upon Dr. Johnson next morning, I found him 
highly satisfied with his colloquial prowess the preceding even- 
ing. "Well (said he), we had good talk." Boswell. 
"Yes, Sir, you tossed and gored several persons." 35 

Alexander, Earl of Eglintoune, who loved wit more than 
wine, and men of genius more than sycophants, had regretted 



82 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

that Johnson had not been educated with more refinement, 
and lived more in polished society. "No, no, my Lord (said 
Signor Baretti), do with him what you would, he would 
always have been a bear." "True (answered the Earl, with 
5 a smile), but he would have been a dancing bear." Gold- 
smith, who knew him well: "Johnson, to be sure, has a 
roughness in his manner : but no man alive has a more tender 
heart. He has nothing of the bear but his skin." 

I was very sorry that I had not his company with me at 

10 the Jubilee, in honour of Shakspeare, at Stratford-upon- 
Avon, the great poet's native town. Johnson's connection 
both with Shakspeare and Garrick founded a double claim 
to his presence ; and it would have been highly gratifying to 
Mr. Garrick. He would have had a benignant effect on 

15 both. When almost every man of eminence in the literary 
world was happy to partake in this festival of genius, the ab- 
sence of Johnson could not but be wondered at and regretted. 
Johnson wrote me the following letter from Bright- 
helmstone : 

20 To Boswell 

"Your History ° is like other histories, but your Journal is 
in a very high degree curious and delightful. There is be- 
tween the history and the journal that difference which 
there will always be found between notions borrowed from 

25 without, and notions generated within. Your history was 
copied from books; your journal rose out of } T our own ex- 
perience and observation. 

"I am glad that you are going to be married. I have 
always loved and valued you, and shall love you and value 

30 you still more, as you become more regular and useful : effects 
which a happy marriage will hardly fail to produce. Sam. 
Johnson." 

On Sept. 30th, we dined together at the Mitre. I at- 
tempted to argue for the superior happiness of the Savage 
35 State. Johnson said, " No, Sir, you are not to talk such 
paradox. Let me have no more on't." Boswell. "Some- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 83 

times I have been in the humour of wishing to retire 
to a desart." Johnson. "Sir, you have desart enough in 
Scotland." 

He maintained to me contrary to the common notion, that 
a woman would not be the worse wife for being learned ; in 5 
which, from all that I have observed of Artemisias, I humbly 
differed from him. 

When I censured a gentleman of my acquaintance for 
marrying a second time, as it shewed a disregard of his first 
wife, he said "Not at all, Sir. He pays the highest compli- 10 
ment to the first by shewing that she made him so happy as a 
married man, that he wishes to be so a second time." And 
yet, on another occasion, he owned that he once had almost 
asked a promise of Mrs. Johnson that she would not marry 
again, but had checked himself. 15 

I had the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Thrale at Dr. Johnson's 
one morning, and had conversation enough with her to ad- 
mire her talents ; and to shew her that I was as Johnsonian 
as herself. He delivered me a very polite card from Mr. 
Thrale and her, inviting me to Streatham. 20 

I found, at an elegant villa, six miles from town, every cir- 
cumstance that can make society pleasing. Johnson, though 
quite at home, was yet looked up to with an awe, tempered 
by affection, and seemed to be equally the care of his host 
and hostess. I rejoiced at seeing him so happy. 25 

Mrs. Thrale praised Garrick's talents for light gay poetry ; 
and, as a specimen, repeated his song in "Florizel and 
Perdita," and dwelt with peculiar pleasure on this line : 

"I'd smile with the simple, and feed with the poor." 

Johnson. "Nay, my dear Lady, this will never do. Poor 30 
David ! Smile with the simple ; — What folly is that ? And 
who would feed with the poor that can help it ? No, no ; let 
me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich." I repeated 
this sally to Garrick, and wondered to find his sensibility as a 
writer not a little irritated by it. To soothe him I observed, 35 
that Johnson spared none of us ; and I quoted the passage in 



84 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Horace in which he compares one who attacks his friends for 
the sake of a laugh, to a pushing ox, that is marked by a bunch 
of hay put upon his horns: "fcenum habet in cornu" "Ay, 
(said Garrick, vehemently,) he has a whole mow of it." 
5 I presented Dr. Johnson to General Paoli. The General 
talked of languages being formed on the particular notions and 
manners of a people, without knowing which, we cannot know 
the language. " Sir, (said Johnson,) you talk of language, as if 
you had never done any thing else but study it, instead of 

10 governing a nation." The General said, "Questo e un tro-ppo 
gran complimento ;" this is too great a compliment. John- 
son answered, "I should have thought so, Sir, if I had not 
heard you talk." The General said, that "a great part of 
the fashionable infidelity was owing to a desire of showing 

15 courage. Men who have no opportunities of shewing it as 
to things in this life, take death and futurity as objects on 
which to display it." Johnson. "That is mighty foolish 
affectation. Fear is one of the passions of human nature, of 
which it is impossible to divest it. You remember that the 

20 Emperour Charles V, when he read upon the tomb-stone of 

a Spanish nobleman, 'Here lies one who never knew fear/ 

wittily said, i Then he never snuffed a candle with his fingers/ " 

" Perfect good breeding, " he observed, "consists in having 

no particular mark of any profession." 

25 Dr. Johnson shunned to-night any discussion of the per- 
plexed question of fate and free will, which I attempted to 
agitate : "Sir, (said he,) we know our will is free, and there's 
an end on't." 

Garrick played round him with a fond vivacity, taking 

30 hold of the breasts of his coat, and, looking up in his face with 
a lively archness, complimented him on the good health which 
he seemed then to enjoy; while the sage, shaking his head, 
beheld him with a gentle complacency. One of the company 
not being come at the appointed hour, I proposed, as usual 

35 upon such occasions, to order dinner to be served ; adding, 
"Ought six people to be kept waiting for one ?" "Why, yes, 
(answered Johnson, with a delicate humanity,) if the one will 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL D. 85 

suffer more by your sitting down, than the six will do by wait- 
ing." Goldsmith, to divert the tedious minutes, strutted 
about, bragging of his dress, and I believe was seriously vain 
of it, for his mind was wonderfully prone to such impressions. 
"Come, come, (said Garrick,) talk no more of that. You are 5 
perhaps, the worst — eh, eh!" — Goldsmith was eagerly 
attempting to interrupt him, when Garrick went on, laughing 
ironically, "Nay, you will always look like a gentleman; but 
I am talking of being well or ill drest." "Well, let me tell 
you, (said Goldsmith,) when my taylor brought home my 10 
bloom-coloured coat, he said, 'Sir, I have a favour to beg of 
you. When any body asks you who made your clothes, be 
pleased to mention John Filby, at the Harrow, in Water-lane.' " 
Johnson. "Why, Sir, that was because he knew the strange 
colour would attract crowds to gaze at it, and thus they might 15 
hear of him, and see how well he could make a coat even of so 
absurd a colour." ° 

After dinner our conversation first turned upon Pope. 
Johnson repeated to us, in his forcible melodious manner, the 
concluding lines of the Dunciad. While he was talking loudly 20 
in praise of those lines, one of the company ventured to say, 
"Too fine for such a poem : — a poem on what ? " Johnson, 
(with a disdainful look,) "Why, on dunces. It was worth 
while being a dunce then. Ah, Sir, hadst thou lived in those 
days ! It is not worth while being a dunce now, when 25 
there are no wits." Some one mentioned the descrip- 
tion of Dover Cliff. Johnson. "No, Sir; it should be all 
precipice, — all vacuum. The crows impede your fall. 
The diminished appearance of the boats, and other circum- 
stances, are all very good description; but do not impress 30 
the mind at once with the horrible idea of immense height. 
The impression is divided ; you pass on by computation, 
from one stage of the tremendous space to another. Had the 
girl in ' The Mourning Bride ' said she could not cast her shoe 
to the top of one of the pillars in the temple, it would not have 35 
aided the idea, but weakened it." 

Garrick. "Sheridan has too much vanity to be a good 



86 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSOW, LL.D. 

man." Johnson. " No, Sir, were mankind to be divided 
into good and bad, he would stand considerably within the 
ranks of good." 

Mrs. Montague being mentioned; — Reynolds. "I think 
5 that essay does her honour." Johxson. "Yes, Sir, it does 
her honour, but it would do nobody else honour. I have, 
indeed, not read it all. But when I take up the end of a web, 
and find it packthread, I do not expect, by looking further, to 
find embroidery. Sir, I will venture to say, there is not one 

10 sentence of true criticism in her book. None shewing the 
beauty of thought, as formed on the workings of the human 
heart," 

One day at Sir Joshua's table, when it was related that Mrs. 
Montague, in an excess of compliment to the authour of a 

15 modern tragedy, had exclaimed, "I tremble for Shakspeare;" 

Johnson said, "When Shakspeare has got for his rival, and 

Mrs. Montague for his defender, he is in a poor state indeed." 

Johnson. "We have an example of true criticism in 

Burke's ' Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful.' There is 

20 no great merit in telling how many plays have ghosts in them, 
and how this ghost is better than that. You must shew how 
terrour is impressed on the human heart. — In the descrip- 
tion of night in Macbeth, the beetle and the bat detract from 
the general idea of darkness, — inspissated gloom." 

25 Politicks being mentioned, he said, "This petitioning is a 
new mode of distressing government, and a mighty easy one. 
I will undertake to get petitions either against quarter guineas 
or half guineas, with the help of a little hot wine." 

Johnson. " Many of Shakspeare's plays are the worse for 

30 being acted : Macbeth, for instance." 

Talking of our feeling for the distresses of others ; — John- 
son. "Why, Sir, there is much noise made about it, but it 
is greatly exaggerated. Why, there's Baretti, who is to be 
tried for his life to-morrow: friends have risen up for him on 

35 every side ; yet if he should be hanged, none of them will eat 
a slice of plum-pudding the less. Sir, that sympathetick 
feeling goes a very little way in depressing the mind." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 87 

Boswell. "I have often blamed myself, Sir, for not feel- 
ing for others, as sensibly as many say they do." Johnson. 
"Sir, don't be duped by them any more. You will find these 
very feeling people are not very ready to do you good. They 
pay you by feeling J y 5 

He appeared, for the only time I suppose in his life, as a 
•witness in a Court of Justice, being called to give evidence to 
the character of Mr. Baretti, who having stabbed a man in 
the street, was arraigned at the Old Bailey for murder. Never 
did such a constellation of genius enlighten the aweful Ses- 10 
sions House, emphatically called Justice Hall ; Mr. Burke, 
Mr. Garrick, Mr. Beauclerk, and Dr. Johnson. Johnson gave 
his evidence in a slow, deliberate, and distinct manner, which 
was uncommonly impressive. It is well known that Mr. 
Baretti was acquitted. 15 

We went home to his house to tea. Mrs. Williams made it 
with sufficient dexterity, notwithstanding her blindness, 
though her manner of satisfying herself that the cups were 
full enough, appeared to me a little awkward ; for I fancied she 
put her finger down a certain way, till she felt the tea touch 20 
it. In my first elation at being allowed the privilege of attend- 
ing Dr. Johnson at his late visits to this lady, which was like 
being e secretioribus consiliis, I willingly drank cup after cup, 
as if it had been the Heliconian spring. But as the charm of 
novelty went off, I grew more fastidious ; and besides, I dis- 25 
covered that she was of a peevish temper. 

Mr. Fergusson told him of a new invented machine which 
went without horses : a man who sat in it turned a handle, 
which worked a spring that drove it forward. "Then, Sir, 
(said Johnson,) what is gained is, the man has his choice 30 
whether he will move himself alone, or himself and the machine 
too." 

I asked, "If, Sir, you were shut up in a castle, and a new- 
born child with you, what would you do?" "Why, Sir, I 
should not much like my company." Boswell. "But 35 
would you take the trouble of rearing it?" He seemed, 
as may well be supposed, unwilling to pursue the subject: 



88 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

but upon my persevering in my question, replied, "Why 
yes, Sir, I would; but I must have all conveniences. If I 
had no garden, I would make a shed on the roof, and take 
it there for fresh air. I should feed it, and wash it much, and 
5 with warm water to please it, not with cold water to give it 
pain." Boswell. " But, Sir, does not heat relax ? " John- 
son. "Sir, you are not to imagine the water is to be very 
hot. I would not coddle the child. No, Sir, the hardy method 
of treating children does no good. I'll take you five children 

10 from London, who shall cuff five Highland children. Sir, a 
man bred in London will carry a burthen, or run, or wrestle, 
as well as a man brought up in the hardest manner in the 
country." Boswell. "Would you teach this child that I 
have furnished you with, any thing?" Johnson. "No, I 

15 should not be apt to teach it." Boswell. "Would not you 
have a pleasure in teaching it?" Johnson. "No, Sir, I 
should not have a pleasure in teaching it." Boswell. 
"Have you not a pleasure in teaching men ! — There I have 
you. You have the same pleasure in teaching men, that I 

20 should have in teaching children." Johnson. "Why, 
something about that." 

Johnson. " It is not from reason and prudence that people, 
marry, but from inclination. A man is poor ; he thinks ' I can- 
not be worse, and so I'll e'en take Peggy.'" 

25 Boswell. "Sir, is it not a very bad thing for landlords to 
oppress their tenants, by raising their rents?" Johnson. 
"Very bad. But, Sir, it never can have any general influence : 
it may distress some individuals. For, consider this : land- 
lords cannot do without tenants. Now tenants will not give 

30 more for land, than land is worth. If they can make more 
of their money by keeping a shop, or any other way, they do 
it, and so oblige landlords to let land come back to a reason- 
able rent, in order that they may get tenants." Boswell. 
"So, Sir, you laugh at schemes of political improvement." 

35 Johnson. "Why, Sir, most schemes of political improve- 
ment are very laughable things. There is no doubt, that if 
the poor should reason, ' We'll be the poor no longer, we'll 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 89 

make the rich take their turn/ they could easily do it, were 
it not that they can't agree. " 

He would not suffer one of the petitions to the King about 
the Middlesex election to be read. 

Boswell. "Foote, Sir, told me, that when he was very 5 
ill he was not afraid to die." Johnson. "It is not true, 
Sir. Hold a pistol to Footers breast, or to Hume's breast, 
and threaten to kill them, and you'll see how they behave." 
To my question, whether we might not fortify our minds for 
the approach of death, he answered, in a passion, "No, Sir, 10 
let it alone. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. 
The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time." 
He added, (with an earnest look,) "A man knows it must 
be so, and submits. It will do him no good to whine." 

I attempted to continue the conversation. He was so 15 
provoked, that he said: "Give us no more of this;" and 
when I was going away, called to me sternly, "Don't let us 
meet to-morrow." 

Next morning I sent him a note, stating that I might have 
been in the wrong, but it was not intentionally ; notwith- 20 
standing our agreement not to meet that day, I would 
call on him in my way to the city, and stay five minutes. 
Upon entering his study, I was glad that he was not alone. 
I whispered him, "Well, Sir, you are now in good humour." 
Johnson. "Yes, Sir." I was going to leave him, and had 25 
got as far as the staircase. He stopped me, and smiling, 
said, "Get you gone m;" a 'curious mode of inviting me 
to stay. 

"Now (said he,) that you are going to marry, do not expect 
more from life, than life will afford. You may often find 30 
yourself out of humour, and you may often think your wife 
not studious enough to please you ; and yet you may have 
reason to consider yourself as upon the whole very happily 
married." 

Talking of marriage in general, he observed, "Our mar- 35 
riage service is too refined. It is calculated only for the best 
kind of marriages." 



90 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

I was volatile enough to repeat to him a little epigrammatick 
song of mine, on matrimony. 

A MATRIMONIAL THOUGHT. 

" In the blithe days of honey-moon, 
5 With Kate's allurements smitten, 

I lov'd her late, I lov'd her soon, 
And call'd her dearest kitten. 

But now my kitten's grown a cat, 
And cross like other wives, 
10 O ! by my soul, my honest Mat, 

I fear she has nine lives." 

My illustrious friend said, "It is very well, Sir; but you 
should not swear." Upon which I altered "0 ! by my soul/' 
to "alas, alas !" 

15 In 1770, he published a political pamphlet, entitled "The 
False Alarm/ 7 intended to justify the conduct of ministry 
and their majority in the House of Commons for having 
virtually assumed it as an axiom, that the expulsion of a 
Member of Parliament was equivalent to exclusion, and thus 

20 having declared Colonel Lutterel to be duly elected for the 
county of Middlesex, notwithstanding Mr. Wilkes had a great 
majority of votes. This being justly considered as a gross 
violation of the right of election, an alarm for the constitution 
extended itself all over the kingdom. To prove this alarm 

25 to be false, was the purpose of Johnson's pamphlet ; but even 
his vast powers were inadequate to cope with constitutional 
truth and reason, and his argument failed of effect ; and the 
House of Commons have since expunged the offensive res- 
olutions from their Journals. That the House of Commons 

30 might have expelled Mr. Wilkes repeatedly, and as often 
as he should be re-chosen, was not denied ; but incapacitation 
cannot be but an act of the whole legislature. It was wonder- 
ful to see how a prejudice in favour of government in general, 
and an aversion to popular clamour, could blind and contract 

35 such an understanding as Johnson's, in this particular case ; 
yet the wit, the sarcasm, the eloquent vivacity which this 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 91 

pamphlet displayed, made it be read with great avidity at 
the time. 

" He who may live as he will, seldom lives long in the obser- 
vation of his own rules/' 

As I was not in London, I had no opportunity of enjoying 5 
his company and recording his conversation. To supply 
this blank, I shall present my readers with some Collectanea, 
obligingly furnished to me by the Rev. Dr. Maxwell, of Falk- 
land, in Ireland, some time assistant preacher at the Temple, 
and for many years the social friend of Johnson: 10 

"The very minutiae of such a character must be interesting, 
and may be compared to the filings of diamonds. 

"The inseparable imperfection annexed to all human gov- 
ernments, consisted, Johnson said, in not being able to create 
a sufficient fund of virtue and principle to carry the laws into 15 
due and effectual execution. Wisdom might plan, but virtue 
alone could execute. And where could sufficient virtue be 
found? A variety of delegated, and often discretionary, 
powers must be entrusted somewhere : which, if not governed 
by integrity and conscience, would necessarily be abused, 20 
till at last the constable would sell his for a shilling. 

"He seemed to me to be considered as a kind of publick 
oracle, whom every body thought they had a right to visit 
and consult. I never could discover how he found time for 
his compositions. He declaimed all the morning, then went 25 
to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly staid late, and then 
drank his tea at some friend's house, over which he loitered 
a great while, but seldom took supper. I fancy he must have 
read and wrote chiefly in the night, for I can scarcely recollect 
that he ever refused going with me to a tavern, and he often 30 
went to Ranelagh, which he deemed a place of innocent rec- 
reation. 

"He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor, 
who watched him, between his house and the tavern where he 
dined. He walked the streets at all hours, and said he was 35 
never robbed, for the rogues knew he had little money, nor 
had the appearance of having much. 



92 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

" Though the most accessible and communicative man 
alive, yet when he suspected he was invited to be exhibited, 
he constantly spurned the invitation. 

"Two young women ° from Staffordshire visited him when I 
5 was present, to consult him on the subject of Methodism, to 
which they were inclined. 'Come, (said he,) you pretty 
fools, dine with Maxwell and me at the Mitre, and we will talk 
over that subject ; ' which they did, and after dinner he took 
one of them upon his knee, and fondled her for half an hour 
10 together. 

" He observed, that a man in London was in less danger of 
falling in love indiscreetly, than any where else; for there 
the difficulty of deciding between the conflicting pretensions 
of a vast variety of objects, kept him safe. 
15 "He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were 
rich in matter, though their style was inelegant ; wonderfully 
so, considering how conversant the writers were with the best 
models of antiquity. 

"Burton's ' Anatomy of Melancholy/ he said, was the only 
20 book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he 
wished to rise. 

" He had great compassion for the miseries and distresses 
of the Irish nation, particularly the Papists; and severely 
reprobated the barbarous debilitating policy of the British 
25 government, which, he said, was the most detestable mode of 
persecution. Better would it be to restrain the turbulence 
of the natives by the authority of the sword, and to make them 
amenable to law and justice by an effectual and vigorous 
police, than to grind them to powder by all manner of dis- 
30 abilities and incapacities. 

"Being solicited to compose a funeral sermon for the daugh- 
ter of a tradesman, and being told that she was remarkable 
for her humility and condescension to inferiours, he observed, 
that those were very laudable qualities, but it might not be so 
35 easy to discover who the lady's inferiours were. 

"When exasperated by contradiction, he was apt to treat 
his opponents with too much acrimony : as, ■ Sir, you don't 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 93 

see your way through that question : ' — ' Sir, you talk the 
language of ignorance/ On my observing to him that a cer- 
tain gentleman had remained silent the whole evening, in the 
midst of a very brilliant and learned society, 'Sir, (said he,) 
the conversation overflowed, and drowned him/ 5 

"' Jonas, (said he,) acquired some reputation by travelling 
abroad, but lost it all by travelling at home/ 

" Whatever might be thought of some methodist teachers, he 
said he could scarcely doubt the sincerity of that man who 
travelled nine hundred miles in a month, and preached twelve 10 
times a week. 

" In blank-verse, he said, the language suffered more distor- 
tion, to keep it out of prose, than any inconvenience or limi- 
tation to be apprehended from the shackles and circumspec- 
tion of rhyme. 15 

"He refused to go out of a room before me at Mr. Langton's 
house, saying, he hoped he knew his rank better than to pre- 
sume to take place of a Doctor in Divinity. 

"He said he never passed that week in his life which he 
would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to 20 
him. 

"He was of opinion, that the English nation cultivated both 
their soil and their reason better than any other people. 

" ' Lord Lyttelton (said he,) sat down to write a book, to tell 
the world what the world had all his life been telling him/ 25 

"Speaking of the inward light, to which some methodists 
pretended, he said, it was a principle utterly incompatible 
with social or civil security. 'If a man (said he,) pretends to 
a principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay, not 
! so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it ; 30 
I how can I tell what that person may be prompted to do ? 
When a person professes to be governed by a written ascer- 
tained law, I can then know where to find him/ 

"Being asked by a young nobleman, what was become of 
the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he 35 
replied, 'Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it : it 
is gone into the city to look for a fortune/ 



94 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"Of a dull tiresome fellow, he said, 'That fellow seems to 
me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one/ 

"A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, 
married immediately after his wife died : Johnson said it was 
5 the triumph of hope over experience. 

"He observed that a man of sense and education should 

meet a suitable companion in a wife. It was a miserable 

thing when the conversation could only be such as whether 

the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dis- 

lOpute about that. 

" He said, foppery was never cured ; once a coxcomb, always 
a coxcomb. 

"Gilbert Cowper called him the Caliban of literature; 
'Well, (said he,) I must dub him the Punchinello/ 
15 "To find a substitution for violated morality, he said, was 
the leading feature in all perversions of religion. 

" ' It was a most mortifying reflection for any man to con- 
sider, what he had done, compared with what he might have 
done? 
20 " ' The condition of the poor was the true mark of national 
discrimination. J 

"Of economy, he remarked, it was hardly worth while to 
save anxiously twenty pounds a year. If a man could save, 
so as to enable him to assume a different rank in society, then, 
25 indeed, it might answer some purpose. 

"A principal source of erroneous judgement was, viewing 
things partially and only on one side: fortune hunters, when 
they contemplated the fortunes singly and separately, a 
dazzling and tempting object ; but when they came to possess 
30 the wives and their fortunes together, they began to suspect 
they had not made quite so good a bargain." 

He published a political pamphlet " respecting Falkland's 
Islands," in which, upon materials furnished to him by 
ministry, he successfully endeavoured to persuade the nation 
35 that it was wise and laudable to suffer the question of right 
to remain undecided, rather than involve our country in 
another war. Upon this occasion, we find Johnson lashing 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.I). 95 

the party in opposition with unbounded severity, and making 
the fullest use of what he ever reckoned a most effectual 
argumentative instrument, — contempt. His character of 
their very able mysterious champion, Junius, is executed 
with all the force of his genius, and finished with the highest 5 
care. 

Mr. Strahan, the printer, who was at once his friendly 
agent in receiving his pension for him, and his banker in 
supplying him with money when he wanted it ; who was him- 
self now a Member of Parliament, thought he should do 10 
eminent service, both to government and Johnson, if he could 
be the means of his getting a seat in the House of Commons. 
It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have ap- 
plied, unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard 
him mention the subject; but at a later period of his life, 15 
when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund 
Burke had said, that if he had come early into Parliament, 
he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that 
ever was there, Johnson exclaimed, "I should like to try my 
hand now." ° 20 

To Sir Joshua Reynolds, in Leicester-Fields. 

"When I came to Lichfield, I found that my portrait ° 
had been much visited, and much admired. Every man has 
a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place ; and 
I was pleased with the dignity conferred by such a testimony 25 
of your regard. Sam. Johnson." 

In his religious record he charges himself with not rising 
early enough. " Alas ! how hard would it be, if this indulgence 
were to be imputed to a sick man as a crime." In his retro- 
spect on the following Easter-eve, he says, " When I review the 30 
last year, I am able to recollect so little done, that shame and 
sorrow, though perhaps too weakly, come upon me. I do 
not remember that since I left Oxford, I ever rose early by 
mere choice, but once or twice at Edial, and two or three 
times for the Rambler." 35 



96 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



To Joseph Banks, Esq. 

" Perpetua ambitd bis terrd proemia lactis 
Hcec habet altrici Capra secunda Jovis." 

"Sir, 
5 "I return thanks to you and to Dr. Solander for the 
pleasure which I received in yesterday's conversation. I 
could not recollect a motto for your Goat,° but have given 
her one. You, Sir, may perhaps have an epick poem from 
some happier pen. Sam. Johnson." 

10 Johnson. "Why, Sir, till you can fix the degree of obsti- 
nacy and negligence of the scholars, you cannot fix the de- 
gree of severity of the master. Severity must be continued 
until obstinacy be subdued, and negligence be cured." 
Boswell. " Lord Monboddo still maintains the superiority 

15 of the savage life. Sir, that is a common prejudice." John- 
son. " Yes, Sir, but a common prejudice should not be found 
in one whose trade is to rectify errour." 

In the morning we had talked of old families, and the respect 
due to them. Johnson. "Yes, Sir, and it is a matter of 

20 opinion very necessary to keep society together. What is it 
but opinion, by which we have a respect for authority, that 
prevents us, who are the rabble, from rising up and pulling 
down you who are gentlemen from your places, and saying, 
'We will be gentlemen in our turn?'" 

25 I gave him an account of the excellent mimickry of a friend 
of mine in Scotland. Johnson. "Why, Sir, it is making a 
very mean use of man's powers. But to be a good mimick, 
requires great powers; great acuteness of observation, great 
retention of what is observed, and great pliancy of organs to 

30 represent what is observed." 

"Why, Sir, (said he,) you would not imagine that the French 
jour, da} r , is derived from the Latin dies, and yet nothing is more 
certain; and the intermediate steps are very clear. From 
dies, comes diurnus. Diu is, by inaccurate ears, or inaccurate 

35 pronunciation, easily confounded with giu; then the Italians 
form a substantive of the ablative of an adjective, and thence 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 97 

giurno, or, as they make it giorno : which is readily contracted 
into giour, or jour." 

He and I dined at General Paoli's. A question was started 
whether the state of marriage was natural to man. Johnson. 
"Sir, it is so far from being natural for a man and woman to 5 
live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives which 
they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints 
which civilized society imposes to prevent separation, are 
hardly sufficient to keep them together/' The General said, 
that in a state of nature the same causes of dissention would 10 
not arise, as occur between husband and wife in a civilized 
state. Johnson. "Sir, they would have dissentions enough 
though of another kind. One would choose to go a hunting in 
this wood, the other in that ; one would choose to go a fishing 
in this lake, the other in that ; or, perhaps, one would choose 15 
to go a hunting, when the other would choose to go a fishing." 

We then fell into a disquisition whether there is an}^ beauty 
independent of utility. Dr. Johnson maintained that there 
was ; and he instanced a coffee cup which he held in his hand, 
the painting of which was of no real use, as the cup could hold 20 
coffee equally well if plain ; yet the painting was beautiful. 

Johnson. " Nobody can write the life of a man, but 
those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse 
with him. 

" Promiscuous hospitality is not the way to gain real influ- 25 
ence. You must help some people at table before others; 
you must ask some people how they like their wine oftener 
than others. You therefore offend more people than you 
please. You are like the French statesman, who said, when 
he granted a favour, ' J'aifait dix mecontents et un ingratJ Be- 30 
sides, Sir, being entertained ever so well at a man's table, 
impresses no lasting regard or esteem. No, Sir, the way to 
make sure of power and influence is by lending money con- 
fidentially to your neighbours at a small interest, or perhaps 
at no interest at all, and having their bonds in your posses- 35 
sion." Boswell. "May not a man, Sir, employ his riches 
to advantage, in educating young men of merit ? " Johnson. 



98 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"Yes, Sir, if they fall in your way; but if it be understood 
that you patronize } T oung men of merit, you will be harassed 
with solicitations. You will have numbers forced upon you 
who have no merit ; some will force them upon you from mis- 
5 taken partiality ; and some from downright interested mo- 
tives, without scruple; and you will be disgraced." 

We walked to the Pantheon. The first view of it did not 
strike us so much as Ranelagh, of which he said, the "coup 
oVodl was the finest thing he had ever seen." I said there 

10 was not half a guinea's worth of pleasure in seeing this place. 
Johnson. "But, Sir, there is half a guinea's worth of inferi- 
ority to other people in not having seen it." Boswell. "I 
doubt, Sir, whether there are many happy people here." 
Johnson. "Yes, Sir, there are man} 7 happy people here. 

15 There are many people here who are watching hundreds, 
and who think hundreds are watching them. Sir, I am 
talking of the mass of the people. We see even what the 
boasted Athenians were. The little effect which Demos- 
thenes 's orations had upon them, shews that they were 

20 barbarians." 

Of a schoolmaster he said, "He has a great deal of good 

•about him; but he is also very defective in some respects. 

His inner part is good, but his outer part is mighty awkward. 

I would not put a boy to him whom I intended for a man of 

25 learning. But for the sons of citizens, who are to learn a 
little, get good morals, and then go to trade, he ma} 7 do very 
well." 

Fielding being mentioned, Johnson exclaimed, "He was a 
blockhead ! " Boswell. "Will you not allow, Sir, that he 

30 draws ver} 7 natural pictures of human life ? " Johnson. 
"Why, Sir, it is of very low life. Richardson used to say, that 
had he not known who Fielding was, he should have believed 
he was an ostler. Sir, there is more knowledge of the heart 
in one letter of Richardson's, than in all 'Tom Jones.' I, 

35 indeed, never read 'Joseph Andrews.' ' Erskine. "Surely, 
Sir, Richardson is ver} 7 tedious." Johnson. "Why, Sir, 
if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON. LL.D. 99 

would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. 
But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the 
story as only giving occasion to the sentiment." 

Johnson. "I maintain, that an individual of any society 
who practises what is allowed is not a dishonest man." Bos- 5 
well. " So then, Sir, you do not think ill of a man who 
wins perhaps forty thousand pounds in a winter?" John- 
son. " Sir, I do not call a gamester a dishonest man ; but 
I call him an unsocial man, an unprofitable man. Gaming 
is a mode of transferring property without producing any in- 10 
termediate good." 

General Oglethorpe told us that when he was a very young 
man, I think only fifteen, serving under Prince Eugene of Sa- 
voy, he was sitting in a company at table with a Prince of 
Wirtemberg. The Prince took up a glass of wine, and, by a 15 
fillip, made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face. Here was a 
nice dilemma. To have challenged him instantly, might have 
fixed a quarrelsome character upon the young soldier : to have 
taken no notice of it, might have been considered as cowardice. 
Oglethorpe, therefore, keeping his eye upon the Prince, and 20 
smiling all the time, as if he took what his Highness had done 
in jest, said "Mon Prince, — " (I forget the French words he 
used, the purport however was,) "That's a good joke: but 
we do it much better in England;" and threw a whole glass 
of wine in the Prince's face. An old General who sat by, said, 25 
"II a Men fait, mon Prince, vous Vavez commence : " and thus 
all ended in good humour. 

A question was started, how far people who disagree in a 
capital point can live in friendship together. Johnson said 
they might. Goldsmith said they could not, as they had not 30 
the idem velle atque idem nolle — the same likings and the same 
aversions. Johnson. "Why, Sir, you must shun the sub- 
ject as to which you disagree. For instance, I can live very 
well with Burke : I love his knowledge, his genius, his diffu- 
sion, and affluence of conversation ; but I would not talk to 35 
him of the Rockingham party." Goldsmith. "But, Sir, 
when people live together who have something as to which 



100 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

they disagree, and which they want to shun, they will be in 
the situation mentioned in the story of Bluebeard : ■ You may 
look into all the chambers but one/ But we should have the 
greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to talk of that 
5 subject." Johnson, (with a loud voice) "Sir, I am not saying 
that you could live in friendship with a man from whom you 
differ as to some point : I am only saying that I could do it. 
You put me in mind of Sappho in Ovid." ° 

Goldsmith was now busy in writing a Natural History; 

10 and, that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodg- 
ings, at a farmer's house, near to the six milestone, on the 
Edgeware-road, and had carried down his books in two re- 
turned postchaises. Mr. Mickle and I' went in, and found curi- 
ous scraps of descriptions of animals, scrawled upon the wall 

15 with a black lead pencil. 

Lord Mansfield, " Severity is not the way to govern either 
boys or men." "Nay (said Johnson,) it is the way to govern 
them. I know not whether it be the way to mend them." 
Mr. Langton was about to establish a school upon his 

20 estate, but it had been suggested to him, that it might have 
a tendency to make the people less industrious. Johnson. 
"No, Sir. While learning to read and write is a distinction, 
the few who have that distinction may be the less inclined to 
work ; but when every body learns to read and write, it is no 

25 longer a distinction. A man who has a laced waistcoat is too 
fine a man to work ; but if every body had laced waistcoats, we 
should have people working in laced waistcoats. There are no 
people whatever more industrious, none who work more, than 
our manufacturers; yet they have all learned to read and 

30 write. Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately 
good, from fear of remote evil ; — from fear of its being 
abused." 

I mentioned the soft and sweet sound of a fine woman's 
voice. Johnson. "No, Sir, if a serpent or a toad uttered it, 

35 you would think it ugly." Boswell. "So you would think, 
Sir, were a beautiful tune to be uttered by one of those ani- 
mals." Johnson. "No, Sir, it would be admired. We 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 101 

have seen fine fiddlers whom we liked as little as toads" 
(laughing) . 

Talking on the subject of taste in the arts, he said, that 
difference of taste was, in truth, difference of skill. Boswell. 
"But, Sir, is there not a quality called taste, which consists 5 
merely in perception or in liking ; for instance, we find people 
differ much as to what is the best style of English composition. 
Some think Swift's the best ; others prefer a fuller and grander 
way of writing." Johnson. " Sir, you must first define what 
you mean by style, before you can judge who has a good taste 10 
in style, and who has a bad. The two classes of persons whom 
you have mentioned, don't differ as to good and bad." 

I regretted the reflection in his preface to Shakspeare against 
Garrick : "I collated such copies as I could procure, and wished 
for more, but have not found the collectors of these rarities 15 
very communicative." I told him, that Garrick had vindi- 
cated himself by assuring me, that Johnson was made wel- 
come to the full use of his collection, and that he left the key 
of it with a servant, with orders to have a fire and every con- 
venience for him. Johnson's notion was, that Garrick wanted 20 
to be courted for them, and that, on the contrary, Garrick 
should have courted him, and sent him the plays of his own 
accord. But, indeed, considering the slovenly and careless 
manner in which books were treated by Johnson, it could not 
be expected that scarce and valuable editions ° should have 25 
been lent to him. 

A gentleman having to some of the usual arguments for 
drinking added this: "You know, Sir, drinking drives away 
care, and makes us forget whatever is disagreeable. Would 
not you allow a man to drink for that reason?" Johnson. 30 
"Yes, Sir, if he sat next you." 

A learned gentleman, who in the course of conversation 
wished to inform us of this simple fact, that the Counsel upon 
the circuit at Shrewsbury were much bitten by fleas, took, I 
suppose, seven or eight minutes in relating it circumstantially. 35 
Johnson sat in great impatience till the gentleman had finished 
his tedious narrative, and then burst out (playfully however,) 



102 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"It is a pity, Sir, that you have not seen a lion ; for a flea has 
taken you such a time, that a lion must have served you a 
twelvemonth." 

"Much (said he,) may be made of a Scotchman, if he be 
& caught young.'' 

A friend of mine had resided long in Spain, and was 
unwilling to return to Britain. Johnson. "Sir, he is at- 
tached to some woman." Boswell. "I rather believe, Sir, 
it is the fine climate which keeps him there." Johnson. 

10 "Nay, Sir, how can you talk so ? What is climate to happi- 
ness? You may advise me to live at Bologna to eat sau- 
sages. The sausages there are the best in the world ; they 
lose much by being carried." 

" Walpole was a minister given by the King to the people : 

15 Pitt was a minister given by the people to the King, — as 
an adjunct?' 

" The advantage which humanity derives from law is this : 
that the law gives every man a rule of action, and prescribes 
a mode of conduct which shall entitle him to the support and 

20 protection of society. That the law may be a rule of action, 
it is necessary that it be known; it is necessary that it be 
permanent and stable. The law is the measure of civil 
right : but if the measure be changeable, the extent of the 
thing measured never can be settled. To permit a law to 

25 be modified at discretion, is to leave the community without 
law. To this case may be justly applied that important 
principle, miser a est servitus ubi jus est aut incognitum aid 
vagum. To punish fraud when it is detected is the proper 
art of vindictive justice ; but to prevent frauds, and make 

30 punishment unnecessary, is the great employment of legis- 
lative wisdom. Lex non recipit majus et minus, — we may 
have a law, or we may have no law, but we cannot have 
half a law. We must either have a rule of action, or be 
permitted to act by discretion and by chance. Deviations 

35 from the law must be uniformly punished, or no man can 
be certain when he shall be safe." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 103 

To James Boswell. 

"I. have heard of your masquerade. What says your 
synod to such innovations ? I am not studiously scrupulous, 
nor do I think a masquerade either evil in itself, or very likely 
to be the occasion of evil ; yet as the world thinks it a very 5 
licentious relaxation of manners, I would not have been one 
of the first masquers in a country where no masquerade had 
ever been before. 

"A new edition of my great Dictionary is printed, from a 
copy which I was persuaded to revise ; I have looked very 10 
little into it since I wrote it, and, I think, I found it full as 
often better, as worse, than I expected. 

"Baretti and Davies have had a furious quarrel ; a quarrel, 
I think, irreconcilable. Dr. Goldsmith has a new comedy, 
which is expected in the spring. No name is yet given it. 15 
The chief diversion arises from a stratagem by which a lover 
is made to mistake his future father-in-law's house for an 
inn. This, you see, borders upon farce. The dialogue is 
quick and gay, and the incidents are so prepared as not to 
seem improbable. Sam. Johnson." 20 

Dr. Goldsmith's apology to the publick for beating Evans, 
a bookseller, was written so much in Dr. Johnson's manner, 
that both Mrs. Williams and I supposed it to be his ; but he 
soon undeceived us. Johnson. " Sir, had he shown it to any one 
friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. He has, 25 
indeed, done it very well ; but it is a foolish thing well done. 
I suppose he has been so much elated with the success of his 
new comedy, that he has thought every thing that concerned 
him must be of importance to the publick." Boswell. "I 
; fancy, Sir, this is the first time that he has been engaged in 30 
such an adventure." Johnson. "Why, Sir, I believe it is 
the first time he has beat; he may have been beaten before. 
This, Sir, is a new plume to him." 

Lord Chesterfield being mentioned, Johnson remarked, that 
almost all of that celebrated nobleman's witty sayings were 35 
puns. He, however, allowed the merit of good wit to his 



104 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Lordship's saying, when very old and infirm: "Tyrawley 
and I have been dead these two years ; but we don't choose 
to have it known." 

He observed, that all works which describe manners require 
5 notes in sixty or seventy years, or less ; and told us, he had 
communicated all he knew that could throw light upon "The 
Spectator." He said, "Addison had made his Sir Andrew 
Freeport a true Whig, arguing against giving charity to beg- 
gars, and throwing out other such ungracious sentiments; 

10 but that he had thought better, and made amends by making 
him found an hospital for decayed farmers." He called for 
the volume of "The Spectator," in which that account is 
contained, and read it aloud to us. He read so well, that 
every thing acquired additional weight and grace from his 

15 utterance. 

Modern imitations of ancient ballads he treated with ridi- 
cule. 

He disapproved of introducing scripture phrases into secu- 
lar discourse. 

20 When I looked at my watch, and told him it was twelve 
o'clock, he cried, "What's that to you and me?" and ordered 
Frank to tell Mrs. Williams that we were coming to drink tea 
with her, which we did. It was settled that we should go to 
church together next day. 

25 On the 9th of April, being Good Friday, I breakfasted with 
him on tea and cross-buns ; Doctor Levet, as Frank called 
him, making the tea. He carried me with him to the church 
of St. Clement Danes, where he had his seat; and his be- 
haviour was, as I had imaged to myself, solemnly devout. 

30 I never shall forget the tremulous earnestness with which he 
pronounced the aweful petition in the Litany : "In the hour 
of death, and at the day of judgment, good Lord deliver 
us." 

We went to church both in the morning and evening. In 

35 the interval between the two services we did not dine ; but he 
read in the Greek New Testament, and I turned over several 
of his books. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 105 

In Archbishop Laud's Diary, I found the following passage, 
which I read to Dr. Johnson : 

"1623. February 1, Sunday. I stood by the most il- 
lustrious Prince Charles, at dinner. 'I cannot (saith he,) 
defend a bad, nor yield in a good cause.'" Johnson. "Sir, 5 
this is false reasoning ; because every cause has a bad side : 
and a lawyer is not overcome, though the cause which he has 
endeavoured to support be determined against him." 

To my great surprize Johnson asked me to dine with him 
on Easterday. He told me, "I have generally a meat pye on 10 
Sunday : it is baked at a publick oven, which is very properly 
allowed, because one man can attend it ; and thus the ad- 
vantage is obtained of not keeping servants from church to 
dress dinners." 

I had gratified my curiosity much in dining with Jean 15 
Jaques Rousseau, while he lived in the wilds of Neuf chatel : 
I had as great a curiosity to dine with Dr. Samuel Johnson, 
in the dusky recess of a court in Fleet-street. I supposed we 
should scarcely have knives and forks, and only some strange, 
uncouth, ill-drest fish : but I found every thing in very good 20 
order. A dinner here was considered as a singular phe- 
nomenon, and I was frequently interrogated on the subject. 
Foote, I remember, in allusion to Francis, the negro, was will- 
ing to suppose that our repast was black broth. But the fact 
was, that we had a very good soup, a boiled leg of lamb and 25 
spinach, a veal pye, and a rice pudding. 

Goldsmith, though his vanity often excited him to occa- 
sional competition, had a very high regard for Johnson, which 
he had at this time expressed in the strongest manner in the 
Dedication of his Comedy, entitled, " She Stoops to Conquer." 30 

I put a question upon a fact in common life, which he could 
not answer. What is the reason that women servants have 
much lower wages than men servants, when in fact our female 
house servants work much harder than the male ? 

He told me that he had twelve or fourteen times attempted 35 
to keep a journal of his life but never could persevere. He 
advised me to do it. "The great thing to be recorded, (said 



106 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

he,) is the state of your own mind ; and you should write down 
every thing that you remember, for you cannot judge at first 
what is good or bad; and write immediately while the im- 
pression is fresh, for it will not be the same a week afterwards." 
5 I again solicited him to communicate to me the particulars 
of his early life. He said, "You shall have them all for two- 
pence. I hope you shall know a great deal more of me before 
you write my Life." 

At General Oglethorpe's, Goldsmith expatiated on the com- 

10 mon topick, that the race of our people was degenerated, and 
that this was owing to luxury. Johnson. "Sir, in the first 
place, I doubt the fact. I believe there are as many tall men 
in England now, as ever there were. But, secondly, suppos- 
ing the stature of our people to be diminished, that is not 

15 owing to luxury ; for, Sir, consider to how very small a pro- 
portion of our people luxury can reach. I admit that the 
great increase of commerce and manufactures hurts the mili- 
tary spirit of a people ; because it produces a competition for 
something else than martial honours, — a competition for 

20 riches. It also hurts the bodies of the people. A tailor sits 
cross-legged ; but that is not luxury." Goldsmith. "Come, 
you're going to the same place by another road." Johnson. 
"Nay, Sir, I say that is not luxury. Let us take a walk from 
Charing-cross to Whitechapel, through, I suppose, the great- 

25 est series of shops in the world, what is there in any of these 
shops, (if you except gin-shops,) that can do any human 
being any harm?" Goldsmith. "Well, Sir, I'll accept your 
challenge. The very next shop to Northumberland-house is 
a pickle-shop." Johnson. "Well, Sir : do we not know that 

30 a maid can in one afternoon make pickles sufficient to serve 

a whole family for a year ? nay, that five pickle-shops can 

serve all the kingdom ? Besides, Sir, there is no harm done to 

any body by the making of pickles, or the eating of pickles." 

We drank tea with the ladies ; and Goldsmith sung Tony 

35 Lumpkin's song in his comedy, " She Stoops to Conquer," and 
a very pretty one, to an Irish tune, which he had designed 
for Miss Hardcastle. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 107 

I told him that Mrs. Macaulay said she wondered how he 
could reconcile his political principles with his moral. John- 
son. "Why, Sir, I reconcile my principles very well. Man- 
kind are happier in a state of inequality and subordination. 
Were they to be in this pretty state of equality, they would 5 
soon degenerate into brutes : — they would become Mon- 
boddo's nation ; — their tails would grow. Sir, all would 
be losers, were all to work for all : — All intellectual improve- 
ment arises from leisure ; all leisure arises from one working 
for another. " 10 

I spoke of Allan Ramsay's " Gentle Shepherd," in the Scot- 
tish dialect, as the best pastoral that had ever been writ- 
ten; I offered to teach Dr. Johnson to understand it. "No, 
Sir, (said he,) I won't learn it. You shall retain your superi- 
ority by my not knowing it." 15 

This brought on a question whether one man is lessened by 
another's acquiring an equal degree of knowledge with him. 
Johnson asserted the affirmative. 

Johnson. "It is laudable in a man to wish to live by his 
labours ; but he should write so as he may live by them, not 20 
so as he may be knocked on the head." Goldsmith. " Surely, 
then, one may tell truth with safety." Johnson. "Why, 
Sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred lies has disarmed 
the force of his lies. But besides; a man had rather have a 
hundred lies told of him, than one truth which he does not 25 
wish should be told." Goldsmith. "For my part, I'd tell 
truth, and shame the devil." Johnson. "Yes, Sir; but 
the devil will be angry. I wish to shame the devil as much as 
you do, but I should choose to be out of the reach of his 
claws." Goldsmith. "His claws can do you no harm, when 30 
you have the shield of truth." 

"One day Charles Townshend and a few more agreed to 
go and dine in the country, and each of them was to 
bring a friend in his carriage with him. Charles Townshend 
asked Fitzherbert to go with him, but told him, i You must 35 
find somebody to bring you back : I can only carry you there.' 
Fitzherbert did not much like this arrangement. He however 



108 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

consented, observing sarcastically, 'It will do very well; for 

then the same jokes will serve you in returning as in going/ " 

We talked of the King's coming to see Goldsmith's new 

play. — "I wish he would," said Goldsmith; adding, how- 

5 ever, with an affected indifference, "Not that it would do me 

the least good." Johnson. "Well then, Sir, let us say it 

would do him good (laughing). No, Sir, this affectation 

will not pass; — it is mighty idle. In such a state as ours, 

who would not wish to please the Chief Magistrate ? " Gold- 

10 smith. "I do wish to please him. I remember a line in 

Dryden, 

'And every poet is the monarch's friend.' 

It ought to be reversed." 

Johnson. "There is nothing, I think, in which the power 

15 of art is shown so much as in playing on the fiddle. In all 
other things we can do something at first. Any man will 
forge a bar of iron, if you give him a hammer ; not so well as 
a smith, but tolerably. A man will saw a piece of wood, and 
make a box, though a clumsy one ; but give him a fiddle and 

20 a fiddle-stick, and he can do nothing." 

Mr. Elphinston talked of a new book, and asked Dr. John- 
son if he had read it. Johnson. "I have looked into it." 
"What (said Elphinston,) have you not read it through?" 
Johnson, offended at being thus pressed, and so obliged to 

25 own his cursory mode of reading, answered tartly, "No, Sir; 
do you read books through?" 

Boswell. "Do you think, Sir, that all who commit suicide 
are mad?" Johnson. "Sir, they are often not universally 
disordered in their intellects, but one passion presses so upon 

30 them, that they yield to it, and commit suicide, as a pas- 
sionate man will stab another. After a man has taken the 
resolution to kill himself, it is not courage in him to do any 
thing, however desperate, because he has nothing to fear." 
Goldsmith. "I don't see that." Johnson. "Nay, but 

35 my dear Sir, why should not you see what every one else sees ? 
It is upon the state of his mind, after the resolution is taken, that 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 109 

I argue. He may then go and take the King of Prussia by 
the nose, at the head of his army. He cannot fear the rack 
who is resolved to kill himself. When Eustace Budgell was 
walking down to the Thames, determined to drown himself, 
he might, if he pleased, without any apprehension of danger, 5 
have turned aside, and first set fire to St. James's palace." 

Mr. Beauclerk and I called on him in the morning. As we 
walked up Johnson' s-court, I said, "I have a veneration for 
this court;" and was glad to find that Beauclerk had the 
same reverential enthusiasm. 10 

Johnson. " People seldom read a book which is given 
to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work 
is to sell it at a low price. No man will send to buy a thing 
that costs even sixpence, without an intention to read it." 

"Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill, partly of 15 
chance, a man may be beat at times by one who has not the 
tenth part of his wit. Now Goldsmith's putting himself 
against another, is like a man laying a hundred to one who 
cannot spare the hundred. When he contends, if he gets the 
better, it is a very little addition to a man of his literary rep- 20 
utation : if he does not get the better, he is miserably vexed." 

Johnson's own superlative powers of wit set him above any 
risk of such uneasiness. Garrick had remarked to me of him, 
a few days before, " Rabelais and all other wits are nothing 
compared with him. You may be diverted by them; but 25 
Johnson gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out of 
you, whether you will or no." 

Goldsmith, however, was often very fortunate in his witty 
contests, even when he entered the lists with Johnson himself. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds was in company with them one day, when 30 
Goldsmith said that he thought he could write a good fable, 
mentioned the simplicity which that kind of composition 
requires, and observed, that in most fables the animals intro- 
duced seldom talk in character. "For instance, the fable of 
the little fishes, who saw birds fly over their heads, and envy- 35 
ing them, petitioned Jupiter to be changed into birds. The 
skill consists in making them talk like little fishes." While he 



110 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

indulged himself in this fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson 
shaking his sides, and laughing. Upon which he smartly 
proceeded, "Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you 
seem to think ; for if you were to make little fishes talk, they 
5 would talk like whales." 

" She Stoops to Conquer," being mentioned ; Johnson. "I 
know of no comedy for many years that has answered so much 
the great end of comedy — making an audience merry." 
Goldsmith said, that Garrick' s compliment to the Queen, 

10 in "The Chances," was mean and gross flattery. Johnson. 
"Why, Sir, I would not write, I would not give solemnly under 
my hand, a character beyond what I thought really true ; but a 
speech on the stage, let it flatter ever so extravagantly, is 
formular. It has always been formular to flatter Kings and 

15 Queens ; so much so, that even in our church-service we have 
'our most religious King/ used indiscriminately, whoever is 
King. Nay, they even flatter themselves ; — 'we have been 
graciously pleased to grant/ — No modern flattery, however, 
is so gross as that of the Augustan age, where the Emperour 

20 was deified. ' Prcesens Divus habebitur Augustus.' And as to 
meanness, (rising into warmth) how is it mean in a player, — 
a showman, — a fellow who exhibits himself for a shilling, to 
flatter his Queen ? Sir, it is right, at a time when the Royal 
Family is not generally liked, to let it be seen that the people 

25 like at least one of them." Boswell. "You say, Dr. John- 
son, that Garrick exhibits himself for a shilling. In this re- 
spect he is only on a footing with a lawyer who exhibits him- 
self for his fee, who will maintain any nonsense or absurdity, 
if the case require it. Garrick refuses a play or a part which 

30 he does not like : a lawyer never refuses." Johnson. "Why, 
Sir, what does this prove ? only that a lawyer is worse. Bos- 
well is now like Jack in ' The Tale of a Tub/ who, when he is 
puzzled by an argument, hangs himself. He thinks I shall 
cut him down, but I'll let him hang " (laughing vociferously). 

35 I dined with him at Mr. Beauclerk's, where were Lord 
Charlemont, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some more members 
of the Literary Club, whom he had obligingly invited to 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. Ill 

meet me, as I was this evening to be ballotted for as candidate 
for admission into that distinguished society. Johnson had 
done me the honour to propose me, and Beauclerk was very 
zealous for me. 

Johnson. "It is amazing how little Goldsmith knows. 5 
He seldom comes where he is not more ignorant than any one 
else." Sir Joshua Reynolds. "Yet there is no man whose 
company is more liked." Johnson. "To be sure, Sir. 
When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities 
as a writer, their inf eriour whilej he is with them, it must be 10 
highly gratifying to them. What Goldsmith comically says 
of himself is very true, — he always gets the better when he 
argues alone; meaning, that he is master of a subject in his 
study, and can write well upon it • but when he comes into 
company, grows confused, and unable to talk. Sir, he has 15 
the art of compiling, and of saying every thing he has to say 
in a pleasing manner. He is now writing a Natural History, 
and will make it as entertaining as a Persian Tale." 

Johnson. "I remember once being with Goldsmith in 
Westminster-abbey. While we surveyed the Poet's Corner, 20 
I said to him, 

1 Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.'° 

When we got to Temple-bar, he stopped me, pointed to the 
heads upon it, and slily whispered me, 

' Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.' " 25 

A proposition, that monuments to eminent persons should 
be erected in St. Paul's church as well as in Westminster- 
abbey, was mentioned. Johnson. "As Pope was a Roman 
I Catholick, I would not have his to be first. I think Milton's 
rather should have the precedence. I think more highly of 30 
; him now than I did at twenty." 

The gentlemen went away to their club, and I was left at 
Beauclerk's till the fate of my election should be announced to 
me. I sat in a state of anxiety which even the charming con- 
versation of Lady Di Beauclerk could not entirely dissipate. 35 



112 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

In a short time I received the agreeable intelligence that I 
was chosen. I hastened to the place of meeting, and was in- 
troduced to such a society as can seldom be found. Mr. Ed- 
mund Burke, whom I then saw for the first time, and whose 
5 splendid talents had long made me ardently wish for his 
acquaintance; Dr. Nugent, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Goldsmith, 
Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Jones, and the company with 
whom I had dined. Upon my entrance, Johnson placed 
himself behind a chair, on which he leaned as on a desk or 

10 pulpit, and with humorous formality gave me a Charge, 
pointing out the conduct expected from me as a good member 
of this club. 

Much pleasant conversation passed which Johnson relished. 
But his conversation alone, or what led to it, or was inter- 

15 woven with it, is the business of this work. 

" I will do you, Boswell, the justice to say, that you are the 
most unscottified of your countrymen. You are almost the 
only instance of a Scotchman that I have known, who did not 
at every other sentence bring in some other Scotchman." 

20 "In questions of simple unperplexed morality, conscience is 
very often a guide that may be trusted. But before con- 
science can determine, the state of the question is supposed 
to be completely known. In questions of law, or of fact, 
conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's 

25 conscience can tell him the right of another man ; they must 
be known by rational investigation or historical enquiry. But 
it is a conscience very ill informed that violates the rights of 
one man for the convenience of another." 

" As the great end of government is to give every man his 

30 own, no inconvenience is greater than that of making right 
uncertain. Nor is any man more an enemy to publick peace, 
than he who fills weak heads with imaginary claims." 

" Were you to tell men who live without houses, 
how we pile brick upon brick, and rafter upon rafter, and 

35 that after a house is raised to a certain height, a man tumbles 
off a scaffold, and breaks his neck, he would laugh heartily 
at our folly; but it does not follow that men are better 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 113 

without houses. No, Sir, (holding up a slice of a good loaf,) 
this is better than the bread tree." 

Mayo. "I am of opinion, Sir, that every man is entitled 
to liberty of conscience in religion ; and that the magistrate 
cannot restrain that right." Johnson. "Sir, I agree with 5 
you. Every man has a right to liberty of conscience, and 
with that the magistrate cannot interfere. People confound 
liberty of thinking with liberty of talking ; nay, with liberty 
of preaching. Every man has a physical right to think as he 
pleases ; for it cannot be discovered how he thinks. He has 10 
not a moral right, for he ought to inform himself, and think 
justly. But, Sir, no member of a society has a right to teach 
any doctrine contrary to what the society holds to be true." 
Mayo. "Then, Sir, we are to remain always in errour, and 
truth never can prevail." Johnson. "Sir, the only method 15 
by which religious truth can be established is by martyrdom. 
The magistrate has a right to enforce what he thinks; and 
he who is conscious of the truth has a right to suffer. I am 
afraid there is no other way of ascertaining the truth, but by 
persecution on the one hand and enduring it on the other." 20 
Mayo. "But, Sir, is it not very hard that I should not be 
allowed to teach my children what I really believe to be the 
truth ? " Johnson. "Why, Sir, you might contrive to teach 
your children extra scandalum; but, Sir, the magistrate, if he 
knows it, has a right to restrain you. Suppose you teach 25 
your children to be thieves?" Mayo. "This is making a 
joke of the subject." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, take it thus : — 
that you teach them the community of goods : for which 
there are as many plausible arguments as for most erroneous 
doctrines. You teach them that all things at first were in 30 
common, and that no man had a right to anything but as he 
laid his hands upon it ; and that this still is, or ought to be, 
the rule amongst mankind. Here, Sir, you sap a great prin- 
ciple in society, — property. Or, suppose you should teach 
your children the notion of the Adamites, and they should run 35 
naked into the streets, would not the magistrate have a right 
to flog 'em into their doublets? I think he may; as it is 



114 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

probable that he who is chopping off his own fingers may soon 
proceed to chop off those of other people. If I think it right 
to steal Mr. Dilly's plate, I am a bad man ; but he can say 
nothing to me. If I make an open declaration that I think so, 
5 he will keep me out of his house. If I put forth my hand, I 
shall be sent to Newgate. This is the gradation of thinking, 
preaching, and acting ; if a man thinks erroneously, he may 
keep his thoughts to himself, and nobody will trouble him ; if 
he preaches erroneous doctrine, society may expel him ; if 

10 he acts in consequence of it, the law takes place, and he is 
hanged." Mayo. "But, Sir, ought not Christians to have 
liberty of conscience?" Johnson. "I have already told 
you so, Sir. You are coming back to where you were. 
Dr. Mayo, like other champions for unlimited toleration, has 

15 got a set of words." 

During this argument, Goldsmith sat in restless agitation, 
from a wish to get in and shine. Finding himself excluded, he 
had taken his hat to go away, but remained for some time 
with it in his hand, like a gamester, who, at the close of a long 

20 night, lingers for a little while, to see if he can have a favour- 
able opening to finish with success. Once when he was be- 
ginning to speak, he found himself overpowered by the loud 
voice of Johnson, who was at the opposite end of the table, 
and did not perceive Goldsmith's attempt. Thus disap- 

25 pointed, Goldsmith in a passion threw down his hat, looking 
angrily at Johnson, and exclaimed in a bitter tone, " Take it" 
When Toplady was going to speak, Johnson uttered some 
sound, which led Goldsmith to think that he was beginning 
again, and taking the words from Toplady. "Sir, the gentle- 

30 man has heard you patiently for an hour : pray allow us now 
to hear him." Johnson, (sternly,) "Sir, I was not interrupt- 
ing the gentleman. I was only giving him a signal of my 
attention. Sir, you are impertinent." Goldsmith made no 
reply, but continued in the company for some time. 

35 Johnson and Air. Langton and I went together to the Club, 
where we found Mr. Burke, Mr. Garrick, and some other 
members, and amongst them our friend Goldsmith, who sat 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 115 

silently brooding over Johnson's reprimand to him after 
dinner. Johnson perceived this, and said aside to some of 
us, "I'll make Goldsmith forgive me;" and then called to him 
in a loud voice, "Dr. Goldsmith, — something passed to-day 
where you and I dined; I ask your pardon." Goldsmith 5 
answered placidly, "It must be much from you, Sir, that I 
take ill." And so at once the difference was over, and they 
were on as easy terms as ever, and Goldsmith rattled away 
as usual. 

I observed that Goldsmith had a great deal of Gold in his 10 
cabinet, but, not content with that, was always taking out 
his purse. Johnson. "Yes, Sir, and that so often an empty 
purse!" 

Goldsmith was still more mortified when, talking in a 
company with fluent vivacity, and, as he flattered himself, 15 
to the admiration of all who were present, a German who sat 
next him, and perceived Johnson rolling himself, as if about 
to speak, suddenly stopped him, saying, "Stay, stay, — 
Toctor Shonson is going to say something." 

Johnson had a way of contracting the names of his friends : 20 
as Beauclerk, Beau; Boswell, Bozzy; Langton, Lanky; 
Murphy, Mur; Sheridan, Sherry. I remember one day, 
when Tom Davies was telling that Dr. Johnson said, "We 
are all in labour for* a name to Goldy's play," Goldsmith 
seemed displeased that such a liberty should be taken with 25 
his name, and said, "I have often desired him not to call 
me Goldy." 

Goldsmith now seemed very angry that Johnson was going 
to be a traveller ; said "he would be a dead weight for me to 
carry, and that I should never be able to lug him along through 30 
the Highlands and Hebrides." Nor would he patiently allow 
me to enlarge upon Johnson's wonderful abilities; but ex- 
claimed, "Is he like Burke, who winds into a subject like a 
serpent?" "But (said I) Johnson' is the Hercules who 
strangled serpents in his cradle." 35 

Dr. Johnson was obliged, by indisposition, to leave the 
company early. Chambers, as is common on such occasions, 



116 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

prescribed various remedies to him. Johnson, (fretted 
by pain,) "Pr'ythee don't tease me. Stay till I am well, 
and then you shall tell me how to cure myself." One of our 
friends, who had that day employed Mr. Chambers to draw 
5 his will, devising his estate to his three sisters, in preference 
to a remote heir male, Johnson called them " three dowdies," 
and said, with as high a spirit as the boldest Baron in the 
most perfect days of the feudal system, "An ancient estate 
should always go to males. It is mighty foolish to let a 

10 stranger have it because he marries your daughter, and takes 
your name. As for an estate newly acquired by trade, you 
may give it, if you will, to the dog Towser, and let him keep 
his own name." 

He now laughed immoderately at our friend's making his 

15 will ; called him the testator, and added, ' ' I dare say he thinks he 
has done a mighty thing. He'll call up the landlord of the 
first inn on the road ; and, after a suitable preface upon mor- 
tality and the uncertainty of life, will tell him that he should 
not delay making his will ; ' and here, Sir,' will he say, ' is my 

20 will, which I have just made, with the assistance of one of the 
ablest lawyers in the kingdom ' ; and he will read it to him 
(laughing all the time) . I trust you have had more conscience 
than to make him say, ' being of sound understanding ' ; ha, 
ha, ha ! I hope he has left me a legacy. I'd have his will 

25 turned into verse, like a ballad." 

Mr. Chambers did not by any means relish this jocularity 
upon a matter of which pars magna juit, and seemed impatient 
till he got rid of us. Johnson could not stop his merriment, 
but continued it all the wa}^ till he got without the Temple- 

30 gate. He then burst into such a fit of laughter, that he ap- 
peared to be almost in a convulsion ; and, in order to support 
himself, laid hold of one of the posts at the side of the foot 
pavement, and sent forth peals so loud, that in the silence of 
the night his voice seemed to resound from Temple-bar to 

35 Fleet-ditch. This most ludicrous exhibition of the awful, 
melancholy, and venerable Johnson, happened well to coun- 
teract the feelings of sadness which I used to experience 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 117 

when parting with him for a considerable time. I accom- 
panied him to his door, where he gave me his blessing. 

He records of himself this year, " Between Easter and Whit- 
suntide, having always considered that time as propitious to 
study, I attempted to learn the Low Dutch language." 5 
Various notes of his studies appear on different days, in his 
manuscript diary of this year; such as, "Inchoavi lectionem 
Pentateuchi — Finivi lectionem Conf. Fab. Burdonum. — 
Legi primum actum Troadum. — Legi Dissertationem Clerici 
postremam de Pent. — 2 of Clark's Sermons. — L. Appolonii 10 
pugnam Betriciam. — L. centum versus Homeri." Let this 
serve as a specimen of what accessions of literature he was 
perpetually infusing into his mind, while he charged himself 
with idleness. 

His stay in Scotland was from the 18th of August till the 15 
22d of November. He saw the four Universities of Scotland, 
its three principal cities, and as much of the Highland and 
insular life as was sufficient for his philosophical contempla- 
tion. I had the pleasure of accompanying him during the 
whole of his journey. He was respectfully entertained by the 20 
great, the learned, and the elegant, wherever he went; nor 
was he less delighted with the hospitality which he experienced 
in humbler life. 

To Boswell. 

"I came home last night, without any incommodity, 25 
danger, or weariness, and am ready to begin a new journey. 
I shall go to Oxford on Monday. I know Mrs. Boswell 
wished me well to go ; her wishes have not been disap- 
pointed. Sam. Johnson." 

Boswell to Dr. Johnson. 30 

"You promised me an inscription for a print to be taken 
from an historical picture of Mary, Queen of Scots, being 
forced to resign her crown, which Mr. Hamilton at Rome has 
painted for me. The two following have been sent to me ; 



118 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

" ' Maria Scotorum Regina ° meliori seculo digna,jus regium 
civibus seditiosis invito resignaV 

" i Cives seditiosi M curiam Scotorum Reginam sese muneri 
abdicare invitam cogunV " 

5 TO BOSWELL. 

"Of poor dear Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told, 
more than the papers have made publick. He died of a 
fever, made, I am afraid, more violent by uneasiness of 
mind. His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources 

10 were exhausted. Sir Joshua is of opinion that he owed not 
less than two thousand pounds. Was ever poet so trusted 
before ? 

"You may, if you please, put the inscription thus : ( Maria 
Scotorum Regina nata 15 — , a suis in exilium acta 15 — , ab 

15 hospitd neci data 15 — .' You must find the years. Sam. 
Johnson." 

To Bennet Langton. 

"If you have the Latin version of Busy, curious, thirsty fly, 
be so kind as to transcribe and send it. I wrote the following 
20 tetrastick ° on poor Goldsmith : 

" Toy r&(pov iicropdas rbv 'OXi/Sdooio, kovltjv 
* Acppocri /XT] <Te[Avr)v, Set^e, Trbbecrcn irarei ' 
Ot(TL ^jxr]\e (pvGLS, fierpcov x^P LS i ^7 a iraKaL&v 
KXatere ttoltjttjv, iaropLKov, (pv^i/cov." 

25 Parliament having been dissolved, and his friend, Mr, 
Thrale, who was a steady supporter of government, having 
again to encounter the storm of a contested election, he wrote 
a short political pamphlet, entitled "The Patriot." It was 
written with energetick vivacity ; and, except those passages 

30 in winch it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the 
House of Commons in the case of the Middlesex election, and 
to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America 
to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display 



LL.D. 119 

of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine 
sense ; — a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to 
the interests and prosperity of his King and country. 

To BOSWELL. 

"I am going to write about the Americans. If you have 5 
picked up any hints among your lawyers, who are great 
masters of the law of nations, or if jour own mind suggest 
any thing, let me know. But mum, it is a secret." 

"I am surprised that, knowing as you do the disposition of 
your countrymen to tell lies in favour of each other, you can 10 
be at all affected by any reports that circulate among them. 
Macpherson never in his life offered me a sight of any original 
or of any evidence of any kind ; but thought only of intimidat- 
ing me by noise and threats, till my last answer, — that I 
would not be deterred from detecting what I thought a cheat, 15 
by the menaces of a ruffian — put an end to our correspond- 
ence. 

"The state of the question is this. He, and Dr. Blair, whom 
I consider as deceived, say, that he copied the poem from old 
manuscripts. His copies, if he had them, and I believe him to 20 
have none, are nothing. Where are the manuscripts ? They 
can be shewn if they exist, but they were never shown. De 
non ezistentibus et non apparentibus, says our law, eadem est 
ratio. No man has a claim to credit upon his own word, when 
better evidence, if he had it, may be easily produced. But so 25 
far as we can find, the Erse language was never written till 
very lately for the purposes of religion. A nation that cannot 
write, or a language that was never written, has no manu- 
scripts. Sam. Johnson." 

Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, 30 
if he supposed that he could be easily intimidated ; for no 
man was ever more remarkable for personal courage. One 
day, at Mr. Beauclerk's house in the country, when two large 
dogs were fighting, he went up to them, and beat them till 
they separated ; and at another time, when told of the danger 35 



120 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D, 



there was that a gun might burst if charged with many balls, 
he put in six or seven and fired it off against a wall. Mr. 
Langton told me, that when they were swimming together 
near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool, which 
5 was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which Johnson 
directly swam into it. He told me himself that one night 
he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would 
not 3 r ield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up, and 
carried both him and them to the round-house. In the play- 

10 house at Lichfield, as Air. Garrick informed me, Johnson hav- 
ing for a moment quitted a chair which w T as placed for him 
between the side-scenes, a gentleman took possession of it, 
and when Johnson on his return civilly demanded his seat, 
rudely refused to give it up ; upon which Johnson laid hold 

15 of it, and tossed him and the chair into the pit. Foote, who 
so successfully revived the old comedy, by exhibiting living 
characters, had resolved to imitate Johnson on the stage, 
expecting great profits from his ridicule of so celebrated a 
man. Johnson being informed of his intention, and being at 

20 dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies's the bookseller, from whom 
I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies "what was the common 
price of an oak stick ;" and being answered six-pence, "Why 
then, Sir, (said he,) give me leave to send your servant to 
purchase me a shilling one. I'll have a double quantity; 

25 for I am told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and I 
am determined the fellow shall not do it with impunity." 
Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which effectually 
checked the wantonness of the mimick. Mr. Macpherson's 
menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same im- 

30 plement of defence ; and had he been attacked/ I have no 
doubt that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal 
prowess be felt as much as his intellectual. 

Johnson treated Scotland no w T orse than he did even his 
best friends, whose characters he used to give as they ap- 

35 peared to him, both in light and shade. Sir Joshua Reynolds 
explained his conduct thus : " He was fond of discrimination, 
which he could not show without pointing out the bad as well 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 121 

as the good in every character ; and as his friends were those 
whose characters he knew best, they afforded him the best 
opportunity for showing the acuteness of his judgment." 

"None of us, (said he,) would be offended if a foreigner who 
has travelled here should say that vines and olives don't 5 
grow in England. When I find a Scotchman, to whom an 
Englishman is as a Scotchman, that Scotchman shall be as 
an Englishman to me." I have deposited in the British 
Museum the following note in answer to one from me, asking 
if he would meet me at dinner at the Mitre, though a friend 10 
of mine, a Scotchman, was to be there: — "Mr. Johnson 
does not see why Mr. Boswell should suppose a Scotchman 
less acceptable than any other man. He will be at the Mitre." 

All the miserable cavillings against his "Journey," in news- 
papers, magazines, and other fugitive publications, I can 15 
speak from certain knowledge, only furnished him with sport. 
At last there came out a scurrilous volume. "This fellow 
must be a blockhead. They don't know how to go about their 
abuse. Who will read a five shilling book against me ? No, 
Sir, if they had wit, they should have kept pelting me with 20 
pamphlets." 

The doubts which I had ventured to state as to the justice 
and wisdom of the conduct of Great-Britain towards the 
American colonies he had altogether disregarded; and had 
recently published a pamphlet, entited "Taxation no Tyranny ; 25 
an answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American 
Congress." As early as 1769, he had said of them, /Sir, 
they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful 
for any thing we allow them short of hanging." Of 
this performance I avoided to talk with him; for I had 30 
now formecl a clear and settled opinion that the people of 
America were well warranted to resist a claim that their fellow- 
subjects in the mother-country should have the entire coi^- 
mand of their fortunes, by taxing them without their own 
consent; and the extreme violence which it breathed, ap-35 
peared to me unsuitable to the mildness of a christian philoso- 
pher. Positive assertion, sarcastical severity, and extravagant 



122 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ridicule, which he himself reprobated as a test of truth, were 
united in this rhapsody. 

That this pamphlet was written at the desire of those who 
were then in power, I have no doubt; and, indeed, he 
5 owned to me, that it had been revised and curtailed by some 
of them. He told me, that they had struck out one passage, 
to this effect: "That the Colonists could with no solidity 
argue from their not having been taxed while in their infancy, 
that they should not now be taxed. We do not put a calf 

10 into the plow; we wait till he is an ox/' He said, "They 
struck it out either critically as too ludicrous, or politically 
as too exasperating." 

After the paragraph which now concludes the pamphlet, 
there followed this, in which he certainly means the great 

15 Earl of Chatham, and glances at a certain popular Lord Chan- 
cellor. 

"If, by the fortune of war, they drive us utterly away, what 
they will do next can only be conjectured. If a new monarchy is 
erected, they will want a King. He who first takes into his hand 

20 the sceptre of America, should have a name of good omen. Wil- 
liam has been known both a conqueror and deliverer ; and perhaps 
England, however contemned, might yet supply them with another 
William. Whigs, indeed, are not willing to be governed; and 
it is possible that King William may be strongly inclined to 

25 guide their measures ; but Whigs have been cheated like other 
mortals, and suffered their leader to become their tyrant, under the 
name of their Protector. What more they will receive from 
England, no man can tell. In their rudiments of empire they 
may want a Chancellor. 

30 "Their numbers are, at present, not quite sufficient for the 
greatness which, in some form of government or other, is to rival 
the ancient monarchies ; but by Dr. Franklin's rule of progres- 
sion, they will, in a century and a quarter, be more than equal to 
the inhabitants of Europe. When the Whigs of America are 

35 thus multiplied, let the Princes of the earth tremble in their 
palaces. If they should continue to double and to double, 
their own hemisphere would not contain them. But let not our 



. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 123 



boldest oppugners of authority look forward with delight to this 
futurity of Whiggism" 

My old and most intimate friend, the Reverend Mr. Temple, 
wrote, "How can your great, I will not say your pious, but 
3 r our moral friend, support the barbarous measures of adminis- 5 
tration, which they have not the face to ask even their infidel 
pensioner Hume to defend?" 

Johnson. " There are few ways in which a man can be 
more innocently employed than in getting money." 

Mr. Strahan had taken a poor boy from the country as an 10 
apprentice, upon Johnson's recommendation. Johnson en- 
quired after him, "Mr. Strahan, let me have five guineas on 
account, and I'll give this boy one. Nay, if a man recom- 
mends a bo3 r , and does nothing for him, it is sad work. Call 
him down." I followed him into the court-yard, behind Mr. 15 
Strahan's house; and there I had a proof of what I had 
heard him profess, that he talked alike to all. "Some people 
tell you that they let themselves down to the capacity of 
their hearers. I never do that. I speak uniformly, in as 
intelligible a manner as I can." 20 

"Well, my boy, how do you go on?" — "Pretty well, Sir; 
but they are afraid I an't strong enough for some parts of 
the business." Johnson. "Why, I shall be sorry for it; for 
when you consider with how little mental power and cor- 
poreal labour a printer can get a guinea a week, it is a very 25 
desirable occupation for you. Do you hear, — take all the 
pains you can ; and if this does not do, we must think of some 
other way of life for you. There's a guinea." 

The slow and sonorous solemnity with which, while he bent 
himself down, he addressed a little thick short-legged boy, 30 
contrasted with the boy's awkwardness and awe, could not 
but excite some ludicrous emotions. 

I met him at Drury-lane play-house in the evening. Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, at Mrs. Arlington's request, had promised 
to bring a body of wits to her benefit ; and secured forty 35 
places in the front boxes. Johnson sat on the seat directly 
behind me; and as he could neither see nor hear at such a 



124 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

distance from the stage, he was wrapped up in grave ab- 
straction, and seemed quite a cloud, amidst all the sunshine 
of glitter and gaiety. I wondered at his patience in sitting 
out a play of five acts, and a farce of two. 
5 At Mr. Beauclerk's, where I supped, was Mr. Garrick, whom 
I made happy with Johnson's praise of his prologues ; and I 
suppose, in gratitude to Mm, he took up one of his favourite 
topicks, the nationality of the Scotch, which he maintained in 
a pleasant manner, with the aid of a little poetical fiction. 

10 "Come, come, don't deny it : they are really national. Why, 
now, the Adams are as liberal-minded men as any in the 
world : but, I don't know how it is, all their workmen are 
Scotch. You are, to be sure, wonderfully free from that 
nationality : but so it happens that you employ the only 

15 Scotch shoeblack in London." He imitated the manner of 
his old master with ludicrous exaggeration; repeating, with 
pauses and half -whistlings interjected, 

11 Os homini sublime dedit, — ccdumque tueri 
Iussit, — et erectos ad sidera — tollere vultus ; " 

20 looking downwards all the time, and, while pronouncing the 
four last words, absolutely touching the ground with a kind of 
contorted gesticulation. 

Garrick could imitate Johnson very exactly. I recollect 
his exhibiting him to me one day, as if saying, "Davy has 

25 some convivial pleasantry about him, but 'tis a futile fellow ;" 

which he uttered perfectly with the tone and air of Johnson. 

I dined with Johnson at Mr. Thrale's. He attacked Gray, 

calling him a dull fellow. "No, Sir, there are but two good 

stanzas in Gray's poetry, which are in his ' Elegy in a Coun- 

30 try Churchyard.' 

" For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey," &c. 

mistaking one word ; for instead of precincts he said confines. 
He added, "The other stanza I forget." 

One of the compan}^ attempted to rally him on his late 
35 appearance at the theatre ; but had reason to repent of his 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 125 

temerity. "Why, Sir, did you go to Mrs. Abington's benefit ? 
Did you see?" " Johnson. "No, Sir." "Did you hear?" 
Johnson. "No, Sir." ^ "Why then, Sir, did you go?" 
Johnson. " Because, Sir, she is a favourite of the pub lick; 
and when the publick cares the thousandth part for you that 5 
it does for her, I will go to your benefit too." 

Next morning I won a small bet from Lady Diana Beau- 
clerk, by asking him as to one of his particularities, which her 
Ladyship laid I durst not do. It seems he had been frequently 
observed at the club to put into his pocket the Seville oranges, 10 
after he had squeezed the juice of them into the drink which 
he made for himself. Beauclerk and Garrick talked of it to 
me, and seemed to think that he had a strange unwillingness 
to be discovered. We could not divine what he did with them ; 
and this was the bold question to be put. I saw on his table 15 
the spoils of the preceding night, some fresh peels nicely 
scraped and cut into pieces. "0, Sir, (said I,) I now partly see 
what you do with the squeezed oranges which you put into 
your pocket at the Club." Johnson. "I have a great love 
for them." Boswell. "And pray, Sir, what do you do with 20 
them? You scrape them it seems very neatly, and what 
next?" Johnson. "Let them dry, Sir." Boswell. "And 
what next?" Johnson. "Nay, Sir, you shall know their 
fate no further." Boswell "Then the world must be left 
in the dark. It must be said (assuming a mock solemnity,) 25 
he scraped them and let them dry, but what he did with them 
next, he never could be prevailed upon to tell." Johnson. 
"Nay, Sir, you should say it more emphatically : — he could 
not be prevailed upon, even by his dearest friends, to tell." ° 

He had this morning received his Diploma as Doctor of 30 
Laws from the University of Oxford. He did not vaunt of his 
new dignity, but I understood he was highly pleased with it. 

He had been in the company of a gentleman whose ex- 
traordinary travels had been much the subject of conversation. 
" I should say he is neither abounding nor deficient in sense." 35 
Boswell. "But will you not allow him a nobleness of reso- 
lution, in penetrating into distant regions?" Johnson. 



126 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"That, Sir, is not to the present purpose : We are talking of 
sense. A fighting cock has a nobleness of resolution. " 

His " Taxation no Tyranny" being mentioned, he said, "I 
think I have not been attacked enough for it. Attack is the 
5 re-action ; I never think I have hit hard, unless it re-bounds." 
Boswell. "I don't know, Sir, what you would be at. Five 
or six shots of small arms in every newspaper, and repeated 
cannonading in pamphlets, might, I think, satisfy you. But, 
Sir, you'll never make out this match, of which we have talked, 

10 with a certain political lady, since you are so severe against 
her principles." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, I have the better 
chance for that. She is like the Amazons of old ; she must 
be courted by the sword. But I have not been severe upon 
her." Boswell. "Yes, Sir, you have made her ridiculous." 

15 Johnson. "That was already done, Sir. To endeavour to 
make her ridiculous, is like blacking the chimney." 

The landlord at Ellon in Scotland said, he was the greatest 
man in England, — next to Lord Mansfield. "Ay, Sir, (said 
he,) the exception defined the idea. A Scotchman could go 

20 no further : 

1 The force of Nature could no further go.' " 

Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashionable people, 
in competition for honorary prizes, being mentioned, " Bouts 
rimes ° (said he) is a mere conceit, and an old conceit now." 

25 Boswell. "The Duchess of Northumberland wrote." 
Johnson. " Nobody will say anything to a lady of her high 
rank. But I should be apt to throw . . .'s verses in his 
face." 

I talked of the cheerfulness of Fleet-street, owing to the 

30 constant quick succession of people passing. Johnson. 
"Why, Sir, Fleet-street has a very animated appearance; 
but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing- 
cross." 

He made the common remark on the unhappiness which 

35 men who have led a busy life experience, when they retire in 
expectation of enjoying themselves at ease. "An eminent 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 127 

tallow-chandler in London, who had acquired a considerable 
fortune, gave up the trade in favour of his foreman, and went 
to live at a country-house near town. He soon grew weary, 
and paid frequent visits to his old shop, where he desired they 
might let him know their melting-days, and he would come 5 
and assist them/' 

He roared with prodigious violence against George the 
Second. When he ceased, Moody interjected, in an Irish 
tone, and with a comick look, " Ah ! poor George the Second." 

Dr. Thomas Campbell ° had come from Ireland to London, 10 
principally to see Dr. Johnson. Johnson. "I should not 
have wished to be dead to disappoint Campbell, had he been 
so foolish as you represent him ; but I should have wished to 
have been a hundred miles off." He laughed with some com- 
placency, when I told him Campbell's odd expression to me 15 
concerning him : "That having seen such a man, was a thing 
to talk of a century hence," — as if he could live so long. 

While Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. Langton were carrying 
on a dialogue which engaged them earnestly, he, in the midst 
of it, broke out, " Pennant tells of Bears. — " They went on, 20 
which he being dull of hearing, did not perceive, or, if he did, 
was not willing to break off his talk ; so he continued to vocif- 
erate his remarks, and Bear ("like a word in a catch" as 
Beauclerk said,) was repeatedly heard at intervals, which 
coming from him who, by those who did not know him, had 25 
been so often assimilated to that ferocious animal, while we 
who were sitting around could hardly stifle laughter, pro- 
duced a very ludicrous effect. Silence having ensued, he 
proceeded : "We are told that the black bear is innocent ; but 
I should not like to trust myself with him." Mr. Gibbon mut- 30 
tered, in a low tone of voice, "I should not like to trust myself 
with you." 

Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, 
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be 
considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of 35 
our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, 
in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self interest. 



128 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Mrs. Pritchard being mentioned, he said, "Her playing was 

quite mechanical. It is wonderful how little mind she had. 

Sir, she had never read the tragedy of Macbeth all through. 

She no more thought of the play out of which her part was 
5 taken, than a shoemaker thinks of the skin, out of which 

the piece of leather, of which he is making a pair of shoes, 

is cut." 

I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's. Johnson had supped 

the night before at Mrs. Abington's with some fashionable 
10 people whom he named ; and he seemed much pleased with 

having made one in so elegant a circle. Nor did he omit to 

pique his mistress a little with jealousy of her housewifery; 

for he said, (with a smile.) "Airs. Abington's jelly, my dear 

lady, was better than yours. " 
15 Being asked if he really was of opinion, that a man was not 

sometimes happy in the moment that was present, he an- 
swered, "Never, but when he is drunk." 

Johnson repeated the common remark, that "as there is 

no necessity for our having poetry at all, it being merely a 
20 luxury, an instrument of pleasure, it can have no value, unless 

when exquisite in its kind." I declared myself not satisfied. 

"Why, then, Sir, (said he,) Horace and you must settle it." 

He was not much in the humour of talking. 

When a gentleman told him he had bought a suit of lace 
25 for his lady, he said, "Well, Sir, you have done a good thing 

and a wise thing. No money is better spent than what is 

laid out for domestick satisfaction. A man is pleased that 

his wife is drest as well as other people ; and a wife is pleased 

that she is drest." 
30 Good-Friday, I repaired to him in the morning, according 

to my usual custom on that day, and breakfasted with him. 

I observed that he fasted so very strictly, that he did not even 

taste bread, and took no milk with his tea ; I suppose because 

it is a kind of animal food. 
35 He observed, "All knowledge is of itself of some value. 

There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would 

not rather know it than not. In the same manner, all power, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 129 

of whatever sort, is of itself desirable. A man would not sub- 
mit to learn to hem a ruffle, of his wife, or his wife's maid : 
but if a mere wish could attain it, he would rather wish to be able 
to hem a ruffle." 

He was pleased to say, "If you come to settle here, we will 5 
have one day in the week on which we will meet by ourselves. 
That is the happiest conversation where there is no competi- 
tion, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments.' ' 

I maintained that Horace was wrong in placing happiness 
in Nil admirari. Johnson. "Sir, as a man advances in life, 10 
he gets what is better than admiration, — judgement, to es- 
timate things at their true value. Sir, admiration and love 
are like being intoxicated with champagne ; judgement and 
friendship like being enlivened." 

"General principles must be had from books, which, how- 15 
ever, must be brought to the test of real life. In conversation 
you never get a system." 

He and I were engaged to go with Sir Joshua Reynolds to 
dine with Mr. Cambridge, at his beautiful villa on the banks 
of the Thames, near Twickenham. Dr. Johnson's tardiness 20 
was such, that Sir Joshua, who had an appointment at Rich- 
mond, early in the day, was obliged to go by himself on horse- 
back, leaving his coach to Johnson and me. Johnson was 
in such good spirits, that. everything seemed to please him as 
we drove along. 25 

He thought portrait-painting an improper employment for 
a woman. "Publick practice of any art, and staring in men's 
faces, is very indelicate in a female." I happened to start 
a question, whether when a man knows that some of his in- 
timate friends are invited to the house of another friend, with 30 
whom they are all equally intimate, he may join them without 
an invitation. Johnson. "No, Sir ; he is not to go when he 
is not invited. They may be invited on purpose to abuse him" 
(smiling) . 

Johnson. "It is wonderful, Sir, how rare a quality good 35 
humour is in life. We meet with very few good humoured 
men." I mentioned four of our friends, none of whom he 



130 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

would allow to be good humoured. One was acid, another 
was muddy, and to the others he had objections which have 
escaped me. Then, shaking his head and stretching himself 
at ease in the coach, and smiling with much complacency, 
5 he turned to me and said, "I look upon myself as a good 
humoured fellow." 

I read one ludicrous imitation of his style, by Mr. Mac- 
laurin. "This (said he) is the best. But I could caricature 
my own style much better myself." He defended his remark 

10 upon the general insufficiency of education in Scotland ; and 
confirmed to me the authenticity of his witty saying on the 
learning of the Scotch; — " Their learning is like bread in a 
besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a 
full meal." 

15 No sooner had we made our bow to Mr. Cambridge, in his 
library, than Johnson ran eagerly to one side of the room 
intent on poring over the backs of the books. Sir Joshua 
observed, (aside) "He runs to the books as I do to the pic- 
tures : but I have the advantage. I can see much more of 

20 the pictures than he can of the books." Mr. Cambridge, 
upon this, politely said, "Dr. Johnson, I am going, with your 
pardon, to accuse myself, for I have the same custom which I 
perceive you have. But it seems odd that one should have 
such a desire to look at the backs of books." Johnson, ever 

25 ready for contest, instantly started from his reverie-, wheeled 
about and answered, "Sir, the reason is very plain. Know- 
ledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we 
know where we can find information upon it. When we 
enquire into any subject, the first thing we have to do is to 

30 know what books have treated of it. This leads us to look 
at catalogues, and the backs of books in libraries." Sir 
Joshua observed to me the extraordinary promptitude with 
which Johnson flew upon an argument. "Yes, (said I) he 
has no formal preparation, no flourishing with his sword ; he 

35 is through your body in an instant." 

Johnson. "We must consider how very little history 
there is ; I mean real authentick history. That certain Kings 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 131 

reigned, and certain battles were fought, we can depend upon 
as true ; but all the colouring, all the philosophy of history is 
conjecture/' Mr. Gibbon, who must at that time have been 
employed upon his history, w^as present ; but did not step 
forth in defence of that species of writing. He probably did 5 
not like to trust himself with Johnson ! 

" The Beggar's Opera," and the common question, whether 
it was pernicious in its effects, having been introduced ; — 
Johnson. "I myself am of opinion, that more influence has 
been ascribed to ' The Beggar's Opera,' than it in reality ever 10 
had ; for I do not believe that, any man was ever made a 
rogue by being present at its representation. At the same 
time I do not deny that it may have some influence, by 
making the character of a rogue familiar, and in some degree 
pleasing." Then collecting himself, as it were, to give a 15 
heavy stroke: "There is in it such a labefactation of all 
principles as may be injurious to morality." While he 
pronounced this response, we sat in a comical sort of restraint, 
smothering a laugh. 

Johnson. "Would not a gentleman be disgraced by hav-20 
ing his wife singing publickly for hire? I know not if I 
should not prepare myself for a publick singer, as readily as 
let my wife be one." 

Johnson. "Why, Sir, absolute princes seldom do any 
harm. But they who are governed by them are governed 25 
by chance. There is no security for good government." 
Cambridge. "There have been many sad victims to ab- 
solute government." Johnson. "So, Sir, have there been 
to popular factions." Boswell. "The question is, which is 
worst, one wild beast or many?" 30 

Johnson praised "The Spectator," particularly the char- 
acter of Sir Roger de Coverley. He said, "Sir Roger did not 
die a violent death, as has been generally fancied. He was not 
killed ; he died only because others were to. die, and because 
his death afforded an opportunity to Addison for some very 35 
fine writing. I never could see why Sir Roger is represented 
as a little cracked. It appears to me that the story of the 



132 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

widow was intended to have something superinduced upon 
it; but the superstructure did not come." 

Somebody found fault with writing verses in a dead lan- 
guage. Johnson. "I would have as many of these as pos- 
5 sible ; I would have verses in every language that there are 
the means of acquiring. Nobody imagines that an University 
is to have at once two hundred poets ; but it should be able 
to shew two hundred scholars. And I would have at every 
coronation, and every death of a king, every Gaudium, and 

10 every Luctus, University- verses, in as many languages as can 
be acquired. I would have the world to be thus told, ' Here 
is a school where everything may be learnt/' ' 

" There is a difference between majority and superiority; 
majority is applied to number, and superiority to power; and 

15 power like many other things, is to be estimated non numero 
sed ponder e. Now though the greater number is not corrupt, 
the greater weight is corrupt, so that corruption predominates 
in the borough, taken collectively, though, perhaps, taken 
numerically, the greater part may be uncorrupt. All so- 

20 cieties, great and small, subsist upon this condition ; that as 
the individuals derive advantages from union, they may like- 
wise suffer inconveniences ; that as those who do nothing, 
and sometimes those who do ill, will have the honours and 
emoluments of general virtue and general prosperity, so those 

25 likewise who do nothing, or perhaps do well, must be involved 
in the consequences of predominant corruption ." 

We went together and visited the mansions of Bedlam. 
He had once been there before and I had heard Foote give a 
very entertaining account of Johnson's happening to have his 

30 attention arrested by a man who was very furious, and who, 
while beating his straw, supposed it was William, Duke of 
Cumberland, whom he was punishing for his cruelties in 
Scotland, in 1746. 

Talking of an acquaintance of ours, distinguished for know- 

35 ing an uncommon variety of miscellaneous articles both in 
antiquities and polite literature, he observed, "You know, 
Sir, he runs about with little weight upon his mind." And 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 133 

talking of another very ingenious gentleman, who from the 
warmth of his temper was at variance with many of his ac- 
quaintance, and wished to avoid them, he said, "Sir, he leads 
the life of an outlaw." 

He had been so good as to assign me a room in his house, 5 
where I might sleep occasionally when I happened to sit 
with him to a late hour. I asked Johnson whether 
I might go to a consultation with another lawyer upon 
Sunday. Johnson. "Why, Sir, when you are of con- 
sequence enough to oppose the practice of consulting upon 10 
Sunday, you should do it: but you may go now. It is not 
criminal, though it is not what one should do who is anxious 
for the preservation and increase of piety, to which a peculiar 
observance of Sunday is a great help. The distinction is clear 
between what is of moral and what is of ritual obligation." 15 

I breakfasted with him by invitation, accompanied by Mr. 
Andrew Crosbie. His tea and rolls and butter, and whole 
breakfast apparatus were all in such decorum, and his be- 
haviour was so courteous, that Colonel Stopford was quite 
surprized, and wondered at his having heard so much said 20 
of Johnson's slovenliness and roughness. 

It being asked whether it was reasonable for a man to be 
angry at another whom a woman had preferred to him, — 
Johnson. " I do not see, Sir, that it is reasonable for a man to 
be angry at another whom a woman has preferred to him : but 25 
angry he is, no doubt ; and he is loath to be angry at himself." 

Concerning Garrick : "He has not Latin enough. He finds 
out the Latin by the meaning rather than the meaning by the 
Latin." 

Johnson's laugh was as remarkable as any circumstance in 30 
his manner. It was a kind of good humoured growl. Tom 
Davies described it drolly enough: "He laughs like a rhi- 
noceros." 

To Boswell. 

" Of a standing fact there ought to be no controversy ; if 35 
there are men with tails, catch an homo caudatus ; if there was 



134 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D, 

writing of old in the Highlands or Hebrides, in the Erse 
language, produce the manuscripts. Where men write they 
will write to one another, and some of their letters, in families 
studious of their ancestry, will be kept. In Wales there are 
5 many manuscripts. 

"Mrs. Thrale was so entertained with your 'Journal/ 
that she almost read herself blind. She has a great regard 
for you. 

"Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head to 

10 think that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in 
full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love 
you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and 
hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary 
piety. I hold you, as Hamlet has it, 'in my heart of 

15 hearts.' Sam. Johnson." 

What he mentions in such light terms as, "I am to set out 

to-morrow on another journey/' I soon afterwards discovered 

was no less than a tour to France with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. 

This was the only time in his life that he went upon the Con- 

20 tinent. 

To Boswell. 

"Paris, Oct. 22, 1775. 

1 i We have been to-day at Versailles . ° You have seen it, and 

I shall not describe it. We came yesterday from Fontaine- 

25 bleau, where the Court is now. We went to see the King and 
Queen at dinner, and the Queen was so impressed by Miss,° 
that she sent one of the Gentlemen to enquire who she was. 
Mr. Thrale is very liberal, and keeps us two coaches, and a 
very fine table ; but I think our cookery very bad. Mrs. 

30 Thrale got into a convent of English nuns, and I talked with 
her through the grate, and I am very kindly used by the Eng- 
lish Benedictine friars. But upon the whole I cannot make 
much acquaintance here ; and though the churches, palaces, 
and some private houses are very magnificent, there is no very 

35 great pleasure after having seen many, in seeing more ; at 
least the pleasure, whatever it be, must some time have an 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 135 

end, and we are beginning to think when we shall come home. 
Mr. Thrale calculates that as we left Streatham on the fif- 
teenth of September, we shall see it again about the fifteenth 
of November. Sam. Johnson." 

It is to be regretted, that he did not write an account of his 5 
travels in France. One small paper-book, however, 'entitled, 
" France II." is in my possession. It is a diurnal register 
of his life and observations, from the 10th of October to the 
4th of November. 

" We saw the Ecole Militaire, in which one hundred and fifty 10 
young boys are educated for the army. 

"We visited the Observatory, a large building of a great 
height. The upper stones of the parapet very large, but not 
cramped with iron. The flat on the top is very extensive; 
but on the insulated part there is no parapet. Though it was 15 
broad enough, I did not care to go upon it. 

" We want to see Hotel de Chatlois, a house not very large, 
but very elegant. 

"Thence we went to St. Roque's church. 

" We went to the Gobelins. — Tapestry makes a good 20 
picture : — imitates flesh exactly. — One piece with a gold 
ground ; — the birds not exactly coloured. — Thence we went 
to the King's Cabinet; — very neat, not, perhaps, perfect. — 
Gold ore. — Candles of the candle- tree. — Seeds. — Woods. 
Thence to Gagnier's house, where I saw rooms nine, furnished 25 
with a profusion of wealth and elegance which I never had 
seen before. — Vases. — Pictures. — The dragon china. — The 
lustre said to be of crystal, and to have cost 3,500 1. — The 
whole furniture said to have cost 125 ,000 1. — Damask hang- 
ings covered with pictures. — Porphyry. — This house struck 30 
me. 

" We went to the house of Mr. Argenson, which was almost 
wainscotted with looking-glasses and covered with gold. — 
The ladies' closet wainscctted with large squares of glass over 
painted paper. They always place mirrours to reflect their 35 
rooms. 

"Then we went to Julien's, the Treasurer of the Clergy : — 



136 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

30,0001. a year. — The house has no very large room, but is 
set with mirrours, and covered with gold. — Books of wood 
here, and in another library. 

"At D 's I looked into the books in the lady's closet, 

5 and, in contempt, shewed them to Mr. T. — Prince Titi; 
Bibl. des-Fees, and other books. — She was offended, and shut 
up, as we heard afterwards, her apartment. 

"We saw the Palais Marchand, and the Courts of Justice, 
civil and criminal. — Queries on the Sellette. — This building 
10 has the old Gothick passages, and a great appearance of an- 
tiquity. — Three hundred prisoners sometimes in the gaol. 

"The Palais Royal very grand, large, and lofty. — A very 
great collection of pictures. — Three of Raphael. — Two 
Holy Family. — One small piece of M. Angelo. — One room 
15 of Rubens. — I thought the pictures of Raphael fine. 

"The Thuilleries. — Statues. — Venus. — Mn. and An- 
chises in his arms. — Nilus. — Many more. — The walks 
not open to mean persons. — Chairs at night hired for two 
sous a piece. — Pont tournant. 
20 "Austin nuns. — Grate. — Mrs. Fermor, Abbess. — She 
knew Pope, and thought him disagreeable. 

"At the Boulevards saw nothing, yet was glad to be there. 
— Rope-dancing and farce. — Egg dance. 

"N. [Note.] Near Paris, whether on week-days or Sundays 
25 the roads empty. 

"Oct. 17. Tuesday. At the Palais Marchand I bought 

A snuff-box, 24L.° 
6 

Table book 15 

30 Scissars 3 p [pair] 18 



63 — 2 12 6 

"The Palais Bourbon, belonging to the Prince of Conde. 

Only one small wing shewn ; — lofty ; — splendid ; — gold 

and glass. — The battles of the great Conde are painted in one 

35 of the rooms. The present Prince a grandsire at thirty-nine. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 137 

"The sight of palaces, and other great buildings, leaves no 
very distinct images, unless to those who talk of them. As 
I entered, my wife was in my mind : she would have been 
pleased. HaAdng now nobody to please, I am little pleased. 

"N. In France there is no middle rank. 5 

"So many shops open, that Sunday is little distinguished at 
Paris. — The palaces of Louvre and Thuilleries granted out in 
lodgings. 

"The French beds commended. — Much of the marble, 
only paste. 10 

"We went to Fontainebleau, which we found a large mean 
town, crowded with people. — The forest thick with woods, 
very extensive. — Manucci secured us lodgings. — The ap- 
pearance of the country pleasant. — No hills, few streams, 
only one hedge. — I remember no chapels nor crosses on the 15 
road. — Pavement still, and rows of trees. 

"At Court, we saw the apartments ; — the King's bed-cham- 
ber and council-chamber extremely splendid. — Persons of 
all ranks in the external rooms through which the family 
passes. • 20 

"The introductor came to us ; — civil to me. — Presenting. 

— I had scruples. — Not necessary. — We went and saw the 
King and Queen at dinner. — We saw the other ladies at 
dinner. — Madame Elizabeth, with the Princess of Guimene. 

— At night we went to a comedy. I neither saw nor heard. 25 
"We saw the Queen mount in the forest. — Brown habit; 

rode aside : one lady rode aside. — The Queen's horse light 
grey ; — martingale. — She galloped. 

"At night the ladies went to the opera. I refused, but 
should have been welcome. 30 

"The King fed himself with his left hand as we. 

1 1 To Versailles, a mean town. Carriages of business passing. 

— Mean shops against the wall. — Our way lay through 
Seve, where the China manufacture. — Wooden bridge at 
Seve, in the way to Versailles. — The palace of great extent. — 35 
The front long ; I saw it not perfectly. 

"Trianon is a kind of retreat appendant to Versailles. It 



138 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

has an open portico ; the pavement, and, I think, the pillars 
of marble. — There are many rooms, which I do not distinctly 
remember. — A table of porphyry, about five feet long, and 
between two or three broad, given to Louis XIV. by the Vene- 
5 tian State. — In the council-room almost all that was not 
door or window, was, I think, looking-glass. — Little Trianon 
is a small palace like a gentleman's house. — The upper floor 
paved with brick. — Little Vienne. — The court is ill paved. 
— The rooms at the top are small, fit to sooth the imagination 

10 with privacy. In the front of Versailles are small basons of 
water on the terrace, and other basons, I think, below them. 
There are little courts. — The great gallery is wainscotted 
with mirrours, not very large, but joined by frames. I sup- 
pose the large plates were not yet made. — The play-house 

15 was very large. — ■ 

"In the way I saw the Greve, the mayor's house, and the 
Bastile. 

"We then went to Sans-terre,° a brewer. He brews with 
about as much malt as Mr. Thrale. 

20 "The moat of the Bastile is dry. 

" We visited the King's library. — I saw the Speculum 
humance Salvationis, rudely printed, with ink, sometimes pale, 
sometimes black: part supposed to be with wooden types, 
and part with pages cut in boards. The Bible, supposed to 

25 be older than that of Mentz, in 1462 ; it has no date ; it is 
supposed to have been printed with wooden types. — I am 
in doubt ; the print is large and fair, in two folios. 

" To the Sorbonne. — The library very large, not in lattices 
like the King's. Their garden pretty, with covered walks, but 

30 small; yet may hold many students. The Doctors of the 
Sorbonne are all equal ; — choose those who succeed to . 
vacancies. — Profit little. 

" I went with the Prior to St. Cloud, to see Dr. Hooke. — We 
walked round the palace, and had some talk. — I dined with 

35 our whole company at the Monastery. — In the library, 
Beroald, — Cymon, — Titus, from Boccace. — Orotic- Prover- 
bialis to the Virgin, from Petrarch. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.JD. 139 

"We saw the china at Seve, cut, glazed, painted. Bellevue, 
a pleasing house, not great : fine prospect. — Meudon, an old 
palace. — Alexander, in Porphyry : hollow between eyes and 
nose, thin cheeks. — Plato and Aristotle. — Noble terrace 
overlooks the town. — St. Cloud. — Gallery not very high, 5 
nor grand, but pleasing. — In the rooms, Michael Angelo, 
drawn by himself, Sir Thomas More, Des Cartes. — Gilded 
wainscot, so common that it is not minded. 

"I visited the Grand Chartreux built by St. Louis. — It is 
built for forty, but contains only twenty-four, and will 10 
not maintain more. 

"We saw the palace and gardens of Luxembourg, but the 
gallery was shut. 

"Hotel — a guinea a day. — Coach, three guineas a week. 
— Valet de place, three 1. a day. — Avantcoureur, a guinea a 15 
week. — Ordinary dinner, six 1. a head. — Our ordinary 
seems to be about five guineas a day. — Our extraordinary 
expences, as diversions, gratuities, clothes, I cannot reckon. — 
Our travelling is ten guineas a day. 

"White stockings, 181. Wig. — Hat. 20 

"We saw the boarding-school, — The Enfans trouves. — A 
room with about eighty-six children in cradles, as sweet as a 
parlour. — They lose a third ; take in to perhaps more than 
seven [years old] ; put them to trades ; pin to them the papers 
sent with them. — Want nurses. — Saw their chapel. 25 

"I lived at the Benedictines; meagre day; soup meagre, 
herrings, eels, both with sauce; fryed fish; lentils, tasteless 
in themselves. In the library ; where I found Maffeus's de 
Historid Indicd: Promontorium flectere, to double the Cape. 
I parted very tenderly from the Prior and Friar Wilkes. 30 

" St. Denis, a large town ; the church not very large, but the 
middle isle is very lofty and aweful. — On the left are chapels 
built beyond the line of the wall, which destroy the symmetry 
of the sides. The organ is higher above the pavement than 
any I have ever seen. 35 

" Chantilly, a seat belonging to the Prince of Conde. — This 
place is eminently beautified by all varieties of waters starting 



140 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

up in fountains, falling in cascades, running in streams, and 
spread in lakes. — The water seems to be too near the house. 
All tins water is brought from a source or river three leagues off, 
by an artificial canal, which for one league is carried under 
5 ground. — The house is magnificent. There is a forest, and, 
I think, a park. — I walked till I was very weary, and next 
morning my feet felt battered, and with pains in the toes. 

"We came to Compiegne, a very large town, with a royal 
palace built round a pentagonal court." 

10 These short notes . . . completely refute the idle notion 
which has been propagated, that he could not see. 

The account which he gave me of his French tour, was, 
"'Sir, I have seen all the visibilities of Paris, and around it; 
but to have formed an acquaintance with the people there, 

15 would have required more time than I could stay. I was just 
beginning to creep into acquaintance. And, Sir, I was very 
kindly treated by the English Benedictines, and have a cell 
appropriated to me in their convent. 

"The great in France live very magnificently, but the rest 

20 very miserably. There is no happy middle state as in Eng- 
land. The shops of Paris are mean ; the meat in the markets 
is such as would be sent to a gaol in England ; and Mr. Thrale 
justly observed, that the cooker}^ of the French was forced 
upon them by necessity ; for they could not eat their meat, 

25 unless they added some taste to it. The French are an in- 
delicate people. At Madame 's, a literary lad}^ of rank, 

the footman took the sugar in his fingers, and threw it into 
my coffee. I was going to put it aside ; but hearing it was 
made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers. The 

30 same lad}^ would needs make tea a VAngloise. The spout of 
the tea-pot did not pour freely ; she bade the footman blow 
into it. France is worse than Scotland in eveiy thing but 
in climate. Nature has done more for the French ; but they 
have done less for themselves than the Scotch have done." 

35 The French were quite astonished at his figure and manner, 
and at his dress, which he obstinate^ continued exactly as 
in London ; — his brown clothes, black stockings, and plain 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 141 

shirt. An Irish gentleman said to Johnson, "Sir, you have 
not seen the best French players." Johnson. " Players, 
Sir ! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon 
tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, 
like dancing dogs." — "But, Sir, you will allow that some 5 
players are better than others?" Johnson. "Yes, Sir, as 
some dogs dance better than others." 

When Johnson was in France, he was generally very resolute 
in speaking Latin. It was a maxim with him that a man should 
not let himself down, by speaking a language which he speaks 10 
imperfectly. When Sir Joshua Reynolds, at one of the din- 
ners of the Royal Academy, presented him to a Frenchman 
of great distinction, he would not deign to speak French, but 
talked Latin, though his Excellency did not understand it, 
owing, perhaps, to Johnson's English pronunciation : yet 15 
upon another occasion he was observed to speak French to a 
Frenchman of high rank, who spoke English ; and being asked 
the reason, with some expression of surprise, — he answered, 
"because I think my French is as good as his English." 

" When Madame de Boufners was first in England, she was 20 
desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly went with her to his 
chambers in the Temple, where she was entertained with his 
conversation for some time. When our visit was over, she 
and I left him, and were got into Inner Temple-lane, when all 
at once I heard a noise like thunder. This was occasioned 25 
by Johnson, who it seems, upon a little recollection, had taken 
it into his head that he ought to have done the honours of his 
literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and eager to 
show himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the stair- 
case in violent agitation. He overtook us before we reached 30 
the Temple-gate, and brushing in between me and Madame 
de Boufflers, seized her hand, and conducted her to her coach. 
His dress was a rusty brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes by 
way of slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his 
head, and the sleeves of his shirt and the knees of his breeches 35 
hanging loose. A considerable crowd of people gathered 
round, and were not a little struck by this singular appearance." 



142 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Johnson thus characterised Voltaire: " Vir est acerrimi 
ingenii et paucarum liter arum." 

Dr. Burney informs me that, "he very frequently met Dr. 

Johnson at Mr. Thrale's, at Streatham, where they had many 

5 long conversations, often sitting up as long as the fire and 

candles lasted, and much longer than the patience of the 

servants subsisted." 

A few of Johnson's sayings, which that gentleman recollects, 
shall here be inserted. 
10 "I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad 
night, and then the nap takes me. 

"The writer of an epitaph should not be considered as 

saying nothing but what is strictly true. Allowance must 

be made for some degree of exaggerated praise. In lapi- 

15 dary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. 

1 ' There is now less flogging in our great schools than f ormerly 
but then less is learned there ; so that what the boys get a' 
one end they lose at the other. 

"More is learned in publick than in private schools, from 
20 emulation ; there is the collision of mind with mind, or the 
radiation of many minds pointing to one centre. Though 
few boys make their own exercises, yet if a good exercise is 
given up, out of a great number of boys, it is made by some- 
body. 
25 "I hate by-roads in education. Education is as well 
known, and has long been as well known, as ever it can be. 
Endeavouring to make children prematurely wise is useless 
labour. Suppose they have more knowledge at five or six 
years old than other children, what use can be made of it? 
30 It will be lost before it is wanted, and the waste of so much 
time and labour of the teacher can never be repaid. Too 
much is expected from precocity, and too little performed. 

Miss was an instance of early cultivation, but in what did 

it terminate ? In marrying a little Presbyterian parson, who 
35 keeps an infant boarding-school, so that all her employment 
now is, 

1 To suckle fools, and chronicle small-beer.' 



> 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 143 

She tells the children, 'This is a cat, and that is a dog, with 
four legs and a tail ; see there ! you are much better than a 
cat or a dog, for you can speak/ If I had bestowed such an 
education on a daughter, and had discovered that she thought 
of marrying such a fellow, I would have sent her to the Con- 5 
gress. 

"After having talked slightingly of musick, he was ob- 
served to listen very attentively while Miss Thrale played 
on the harpsichord, and with eagerness he called to her, 'Why 
don't you dash away like Burney?' Dr. Burney upon this 10 
said to him, ' I believe, Sir, we shall make a musician of you 
at last.' Johnson with candid complacency replied, 'Sir, 
I shall be glad to have a new sense given to me.' 

"He had come down one morning to the breakfast-room, 
and been a considerable time by himself before any body 15 
appeared. When on a subsequent day he was twitted by 
Mrs. Thrale for being very late, which he generally was, he 
defended himself by alluding to the extraordinary morning, 
when he had been too early. ' Madam, I do not like to come 
down to vacuity.' 20 

"Dr. Burney having remarked that Mr. Garrick was 
beginning to look old, he said, 'Why, Sir, you are not 
to wonder at that; no man's face has had more wear and 
tear.'" 

My father, who was one of the Judges of Scotland, and had 25 
added considerably to the estate of Auchinleck, now signified 
his inclination to secure it to his family in perpetuity by an en- 
tail. My father had declared a predilection for heirs general, 
that is, males and females indiscriminately. And in the par- 
ticular case of our family, I apprehended that we were under 30 
an implied obligation, in honour and good faith, to transmit 
the estate by the same tenure which we held it, which was 
as heirs male, excluding nearer females. I therefore ob- 
jected to my father's scheme. I wrote to Dr. Johnson, stat- 
ing the case, with all its difficulties, earnestly requesting 35 
that he would favour me with his friendly opinion and 
advice. 



144 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

To BoSWELL. 

"Laws are formed by the manners and exigencies of par- 
ticular times, and it is but accidental that they last longer 
than their causes : the limitation of feudal succession to the 
5 male arose from the obligation of the tenant to attend his 
chief in war. 

" Suppose at one time a law that allowed only males to in- 
herit, and during the continuance of this law many estates to 
have descended, passing by the females, to remoter heirs. 
10 Suppose afterwards the law repealed in correspondence with a 
change of manners, and women made capable of inheritance ; 
would not then the tenure of estates be changed ? Could the 
women have no benefit from a law in their favour ? Must 
they be passed by upon moral principles for ever, because they 
15 were once excluded by a legal prohibition ? 

" Your ancestor, for some reason, disinherited his daughters ; 
but it no more follows that he intended this act as a rule for 
posterity, than the disinheriting of his brother. 

"If, therefore, you ask by what right your father admits 
20 daughters to inheritance, ask yourself, first, by what right you 
require them to be excluded. Sam. Johnson." 

I had followed his recommendation and consulted Lord 
Hailes. "The plea of conscience (said his Lordship,) which 
you put, is a most respectable one, especially when conscience 
25 and self are on different sides. But I think that conscience 
is not well informed, and that self and she ought on this oc- 
casion to be of a side." 

To Boswell. 

"It cannot but occur that ' Women have natural and equi- 
30 table claims as well as men, and these claims are not to be 
capriciously or lightly superseded or infringed/ When fiefs 
implied military service, it is easily discerned why females 
could not inherit them ; but that reason is now at an end. As 
manners make laws, manners likewise repeal them. Sam. 
35 Johnson." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 145 

Having communicated to Lord Hailes what Dr. Johnson 
wrote concerning the question which perplexed me so much, 
his Lordship wrote to me: "Your scruples have produced 
more fruit than I ever expected from them ; an excellent dis- 
sertation on general principles of morals and law." 5 

I found Mrs. Thrale and him at breakfast. I was kindly 
welcomed. In a moment he was in a full glow of conversa- 
tion, and I felt myself elevated as if brought into another state 
of being. Mrs. Thrale and I looked to each other while he 
talked, and our looks expressed our congenial admiration and 10 
affection for him. I shall ever recollect this scene with great 
pleasure. I exclaimed to her, "I am now intellectually 
Hermippus redivivus, I am quite restored by him, by trans- 
fusion of mind." " There are many (she replied) who ad- 
mire and respect Mr. Johnson ; but you and I love him." 15 

He seemed very happy in the near prospect of going to 
Italy with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. "But, (said he,) before 
leaving England I am to take a jaunt to Oxford, Birming- 
ham, my native city Lichfield, and my old friend, Dr. Taylor's, 
at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire. I shall go in a few days, and 20 
you, Bosweli, shall go with me." 

I mentioned with much regret the extravagance of the rep- 
resentative of a great family in Scotland, by which there was 
danger of its being ruined ; and as Johnson respected it for its 
antiquity, he joined with me in thinking it would be happy if 25 
this person should die. Mrs. Thrale seemed shocked at this. 
Johnson. "Nay, Madam, it is not a preference of the land 
to its owner; it is the preference of a family to an individual. 
Here is an establishment in a country, which is of importance 
for ages, not only to the chief but to his people ; an establish- 30 
ment which extends upwards and downwards; that this 
should be destroyed by one idle fellow is a sad thing." 

"HI owe a particular man a sum of money, I am obliged to 
let that man have the next money I get ; but if I owe no man, 
I may dispose of what I get as I please. There is not a 35 
debitum justitice to a man's next heir ; there is only a debitum 
caritatis. If I have a brother in want, he has a claim from 



146 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

affection to my assistance; but if I have also a brother in 
want, whom I like better, he has a preferable claim." 

We got into a boat to cross over to Black-friars ; as we moved 
along the Thames, I talked to him of a little volume, 
5 altogether unknown to him, advertised under the title of 
" Johnsoniana, or Bon-Mots of Dr. Johnson." Johnson. 
1 ' Sir, it is a mighty impudent thing. ' ' Boswell. ' ' Pray, Sir, 
could you have no redress if you were to prosecute a publisher 
for bringing out, under your name, what you never said, and 

10 ascribing to you dull stupid nonsense, or making you swear 
profanely, as many ignorant relaters of your bon-mots do?"' 
Johnson. " No, Sir; there will always be some truth mixed 
with the falsehood, and how can it be ascertained how much 
is true and how much is false? Besides, Sir, what dam- 

15 ages would a jury give me for having been represented as 
swearing?" 

He said, "The value of every story depends on its being 

true. (naming a worthy friend of ours,) used to think a 

story, a story, till I shewed him that truth w T as essential to it. 

20 "A gentlewomen (said he) begged I would give her my arm 
to assist her in crossing the street, which I accordingly did; 
upon which she offered me a shilling, supposing me to be the 
watchman. I perceived that she w T as somewhat in liquor." 
This, if told by most people, would have been thought an 

25 invention ; when told by Johnson, it was believed by his 
friends as much as if they had seen what passed. 

We landed at the Temple-stairs, where we parted. I 
found him in the evening in Mrs. Williams' room. 

" All severity that does not tend to increase good, or pre- 

30 vent evil, is idle. I said to the Lady Abbess of a convent, 
'Madam, 3^ou are here, not for the love of virtue, but the 
fear of vice/ She said, 'She should remember this as long as 
she lived. ' '[ 

One of his friends, I remember, - came to sup at a tavern 

35 with him, and too plainly discovered that he had drunk too 
much at dinner. When one who loved mischief asked John- 
son, "Well, Sir, what did your friend say to you, as an apology 






1 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 147 

for being in such a situation?" Johnson answered, "Sir, 
he said all that a man should say : he said he was sorry for it." 

We met in the morning at the Somerset coffee-house in 
the Strand, where we were taken up by the Oxford coach. He 
was accompanied by Mr. Gwyn, the architect. It was very 5 
remarkable of Johnson, that the presence of a stranger had 
no restraint upon his talk. I observed that Garrick, who was 
about to quit the stage, would soon have an easier life. "I 
think he should play once a year for the benefit of decayed 
actors." Johnson. "Alas, Sir! he will soon be a decayed 10 
actor himself." 

We put up at the Angel inn, and passed the evening by 
ourselves in easy and familiar conversation. Talking of 
constitutional melancholy, he observed, "A man so afflicted, 
Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with 15 
them." Boswell. "May not he think them down, Sir?" 
Johnson. "No, Sir. To attempt to think them down is 
madness. He should have a lamp constantly burning in his 
bed chamber during the night, and if wakefully disturbed, 
take a book, and read, and compose himself to rest. To have 20 
the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be 
attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual 
exercise." Boswell. "Should not he provide amusements 
for himself? for a course of chymistry?" Johnson. "Let 
him take a course of chymistry or a course of rope-dancing, 25 
or a course of any thing to which he is inclined at the time. 
Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he 
can, as many things to which it can fly from itself." 

Dr. Wetherell and I talked of him without reserve in his own 
presence. Wetherell. "I would have given him a hun-30 
dred guineas if he would have written a preface to his ' Political 
Tracts, ' by way of a Discourse on the British Constitution." 
I could perceive that he was displeased with this dialogue. 
He burst out, "Why should I be always writing?" 

We then went to Pembroke College, and waited on his old 35 
friend, Dr. Adams, the master of it. 

Johnson said, "When a man voluntarily engages in an impor- 



L 



148 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

tant controversy, he is to do all he can to lessen his antagonist, 
because authority from personal respect has much weight with 
most people, and often more than reasoning. If my antago- 
nist writes bad language, though that may not be essential to 
5 the question, I will attack him for his bad language." Adams. 
"You will not jostle a chimney-sweeper." Johnson. "Yes, 
Sir, if it were necessary to jostle him down." 

We walked with Dr. Adams into the master's garden, and 
into the common room. Johnson, (after a reverie of medi- 

10 tation,) "Ay! Here I used to play at draughts with Phil. 
Jones and Fludyer. Jones loved beer, and did not get very 
forward in the church. Fludyer turned out a scoundrel, a 
Whig, and said he was ashamed of having been bred at Oxford. " 
Boswell. "Was he a scoundrel, Sir, in any other way than 

15 that of being a political scoundrel ? Did he cheat at 

draughts?" Johnson. "Sir, we never played for money." 

We talked of biography. — Johnson. "It is rarely well 

executed. They only who live with a man can write his life 

with any genuine exactness and discrimination; and few 

20 people who have lived with a man know what to remark about 
him." 

I said, Mr. Robert Dodsley's life should be written, as he 
had been so much connected with the wits of his time. 

Johnson. "Never believe extraordinary characters which 

25 you hear of people. Depend upon it, Sir, they are exag- 
gerated. You do not see one man shoot a great deal higher 
than another." I mentioned Mr. Burke. Johnson. "Yes; 
Burke is an extraordinary man. His stream of mind is per- 
petual." Sir Joshua Reynolds informs me, that when Mr. 

30 Burke was first elected a member of Parliament, and Sir John 
Hawkins expressed a wonder at his attaining a seat, Johnson 
said, "Now we who know Mr. Burke, know that he will be 
one of the first men in the country." And once, when John- 
son was ill, and unable to exert himself as much as usual with- 

35 out fatigue, Mr. Burke having been mentioned, he said, "That 
fellow calls forth all my powers. Were I to see Burke now 
it would kill me." 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 149 

We rode through Blenheim park. I observed, "You and 
I, Sir, have, I think, seen together the extremes of what can 
be seen in Britain — the wild, rough island of Mull, and Blen- 
heim park." 

We dined at an excellent inn at Chapel-house, where he 5 
expatiated on the felicity of England in its taverns and inns, 
and triumphed over the French for not having, in any per- 
fection, the tavern life. "There is no private house, (said 
he,) in which people can enjoy themselves so well, as at a 
capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good 10 
things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever 
so much desire that every body should be easy ; in the nature 
of things it cannot be : there must always be some degree of 
care and anxiety. T^he master of the house is anxious to en- 
tertain his guests ; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to 15 
him; and no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can as 
freely command what is in another man's house, as if it were 
his own. Whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom 
from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome : and the more 
noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good 20 
things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servants will 
attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited 
by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they 
please. No, Sir ; there is nothing which has yet been con- 
trived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as 25 
by a good tavern or inn." He then repeated, with great 
emotion, Shenstone's lines : ° 

"Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, 
Where'er his stages may have been, 
May sigh to think he still has found 30 

The warmest welcome at an inn." 

In the afternoon, as we were driven rapidly along in the 
post-chaise, he said to me, "Life has not many things better 
than this." 

We stopped at Stratford-upon-Avon, and drank tea and 35 
coffee; and it pleased me to be with him upon the classick 
ground of Shakspeare's native place. 



150 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

He spoke slightingly of Dyer's " Fleece." — "The subject, 
Sir, cannot be made poetical. How can a man write poeti- 
cally of serges and druggets ! " Having talked of Grainger's 
" Sugar-Cane/' I mentioned to him Mr. Langton's having told 
5 me, that this poem, when read in manuscript at Sir Joshua 
Reynolds's, had made all the assembled wits burst into a laugh, 
when, after much blank verse pomp, the poet began a new 
paragraph thus : 

" Now, Muse, let's sing of rats." 

10 And what increased the ridicule was, that one of the company, 
who slyly overlooked the reader, perceived that the word had 
been originally mice, and had been altered to rats, as more 
dignified. 

"The Sugar-Cane, a Poem," did not please him. "What 

15 could he make of a sugar-cane ? One might as well write the 
c Parsle} T -bed, a Poem ; ' or ' The Cabbage-garden, a Poem.' " 
Boswell. "You must then pickle your cabbage with the sal 
atticum." Johnson. "You know there is already i The Hop- 
Garden, a Poem : ' and, I think, one could say a great deal 

20 about cabbage. The poem might begin with the advantages of 
civilized society over a rude state, exemplified by the Scotch, 
who had no cabbages till Oliver Cromwell's soldiers intro- 
duced them ; and one might thus shew how arts are propa- 
gated by conquest, as they were by the Roman arms." He 

25 seemed to be much diverted with the fertility of his own fancy. 

I told him, that I heard Dr. Percy was writing the history 

of the wolf in Great-Britain. Johnson. " The wolf , Sir ! why 

the wolf ? Why does he not write of the bear, which we had 

formerly ? Nay, it is said we had the beaver. Or why does 

30 he not write of the grey rat, the Hanover rat, as it is called, 
because it is said to have come into this country about the 
time that the family of Hanover came ? I should like to see 
' The History of the Grey Rat, by Thomas Percy, D.D., Chaplain 
in Ordinary to His Majesty.' " 

35 At Birmingham, after breakfast, we went to call on his old 
schoolfellow Mr. Hector. A very stupid maid, who opened 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 151 

the door, told us, that, "her master was gone out ; he was gone 
to the country; she could not tell when he would return/' 
" My name is Johnson ; tell him I called. Will you remember 
the name?" She answered with rustick simplicity, in the 
Warwickshire pronunciation, "I don't understand you, Sir." 5 
— " Blockhead," (said he,) and roared loud in her ear, "John- 
son," and then she catched the sound. 

In a little while we met Friend Hector, as Mr. Lloyd called 
him. It gave me pleasure to observe the joy which Johnson 
and he expressed on seeing each other again. We all met at 10 
dinner at Mr. Lloyd's, where we were entertained with great 
hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd had been married the same 
year with their Majesties, and like them, had been blessed 
with a numerous family of fine children, their numbers being 
exactly the same. Johnson said, " Marriage is the best state 15 
for a man in general ; and every man is a worse man, in pro- 
portion as he is unfit for the married state." 

Dr. Johnson said that he liked individuals among the 
Quakers, but not the sect. Dr. Johnson said to me, "You 
will see, Sir, at Mr. Hector's, his sister, Mrs. Careless, a clergy- 20 
man's widow. She was the first woman with wiiom I was in 
love. It dropt out of my head imperceptibly ; but she and 
I shall always have a kindness for each other." He laughed 
at the notion that a man can never be really in love but 
once, and considered it as a mere romantick fancy. Mr. 25 
Hector took me to his house, where we found Johnson sitting 
placidly at tea, with his first love. 

Johnson lamented to Mr. Hector the state of one of their 
schoolfellows, Mr. Charles Congrev^e: "He obtained, I 
believe, considerable preferment in Ireland, but now lives in 30 
London, quite as a valetudinarian, afraid to go into any house 
but his own. He takes a short airing in his post-chaise every 
day. An elderly woman, whom he calls cousin, lives with 
him, and jogs his elbow, when his glass has stood too long 
empty, and encourages him in drinking, 'in which he is very 35 
willing to be encouraged ; not that he gets drunk, for he is a 
very pious man, but he is always muddy. He confesses to 



152 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

one bottle of port every day, and he probably drinks more. 
He is quite unsocial ; his conversation is quite monosyllabical ; 
and when, at my last visit, I asked him what o'clock it was, 
that signal of my departure had so pleasing an effect on him, 
5 that he sprung up to look at his watch, like a greyhound 
bounding at a hare." When Johnson took leave of Mr. 
Hector, he said, " Don't grow like Congreve ; nor let me grow 
like him, when you are near me." 
When he again talked of Mrs. Careless to-night, he seemed 

10 to have had his affection revived. "If I had married her, 
it might have been as happy for me." Boswell. "Pray, 
Sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the 
world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as 
with any one woman in particular?" Johnson. "Ay, Sir, 

15 fifty thousand. I believe marriages would in general be as 
happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the 
Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the charac- 
ters and circumstances, without the parties having any 
choice in the matter." 

20 When we came within the focus of the Lichfield lamps, 
"Now (said he,) we are getting out of a state of death." We 
put up at the Three Crowns, not one of the great inns, but a 
good old-fashioned one, the very next house to that in which 
Johnson was born and brought up, and which was still his 

25 own property. We had a comfortable supper, and got into 
high spirits. I felt all my Toryism glow in this old capital of 
Staffordshire. I could have offered incense genio loci; and 
I indulged in libations of that ale which Boniface, in 
" The Beaux Stratagem," recommends with such an eloquent 

30 jollity. 

Next morning he introduced me to Mrs. Lucy Porter, his 
stepdaughter. She was now an old maid, with much sim- 
plicity of manner. She had never been in London. Her 
brother, a Captain in the navy, had left her a fortune of ten 

35 thousand pounds ; about a third of which she had laid out in 
building a stately house, and making a handsome garden, in 
an elevated situation in Lichfield. Johnson, when here by 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 153 

himself , used to live at her house. She reverenced him, and 
he had a parental tenderness for her. 

We then visited Mr. Peter Garrick. "Sir, (said he,) I 
don't know but if Peter had cultivated all the arts of 
gaiety as much as David has done, he might have been 5 
as brisk and lively. Depend upon it, Sir, vivacity is 
much an art, and depends greatly on habit." A heavy 
German baron, who had lived much with the young English 
at Geneva, ambitious to be as lively as they, with assiduous 
exertion, was jumping over the tables and chairs in his lodg- 10 
ings; and when the people of the house ran in and asked, 
with surprize, what was the matter, he answered, " Sh? ap- 
prens t'etrefif." 

I saw here, for the first time, oat ale; and oat cakes, not 
hard as in Scotland, but soft like a Yorkshire cake, were 15 
served at breakfast. It was pleasant to me to find, that 
"Oats" the "food of horses" were so much used as the food 
of the people in Dr. Johnson's own town. He expatiated in 
praise of Lichfield and its inhabitants, who, he said, were "the 
most sober, decent people in England, the genteelest in pro- 20 
portion to their wealth, and spoke the purest English." I 
doubted as to the last article of this eulogy: for they had 
several provincial sounds ; as there, pronounced like fear, in- 
stead of like fair; once, pronounced woonse, instead of 
wunse or ivonse. Johnson himself never got entirely free of 25 
those provincial accents. Garrick sometimes used to take 
him off, squeezing a lemon into a punch-bowl, with uncouth 
gesticulations, looking round the company, and calling out, 
"Who's for poonsh? " 

Very little business appeared to be going forward in Lich- 30 
field. "Surely, Sir, (said I,) you are an idle set of people." 
"Sir, (said Johnson,) we are a city of philosophers, we work 
with our heads, and make the boobies of Birmingham work 
for us with their hands." 

There was at this time a company of players performing 35 
at Lichfield. The manager begged leave to wait on Dr. 
Johnson. 



154 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 






When we were by ourselves he told me^ " Forty years ago, 
Sir, I was in love with an actress here, Mrs. Emmet, who 
acted Flora, in 'Hob in the Well/ " If we may believe Mr. 
Garrick, his old master's taste in theatrical merit was by no 
5 means refined; he was not an elegans jormarum spectator. 
Johnson said of an actor, who played Sir Harry Wildair at 
Lichfield, "There is a courtly vivacity about the fellow ;" 
when, according to Garrick's account, "he was the most vulgar 
ruffian that ever went upon boards." 

10 We had promised Mr. Stanton to be at his theatre on 
Monday. Dr. Johnson jocularly proposed to me to write a 
Prologue for the occasion: "A Prologue, by James Boswell, 
Esq. from the Hebrides." I was really inclined to take the 
hint. Methought, "Prologue, spoken before Dr. Samuel 

15 Johnson, at Lichfield, 1776 ;" -would have sounded as well as, 
"Prologue, spoken before the Duke of York at Oxford," in 
Charles the Second's time. Much might have been said of 
what Lichfield had done for Shakspeare, by producing John- 
son and Garrick. But I found he was averse to it. 

20 We viewed the museum of Mr. Richard Green, apothecary 
here, who told me he was proud of being a relation of Dr. 
Johnson's. Johnson once said, "Sir, I should as soon have 
thought of building a man of war, as of collecting such a 
museum." 

25 We drank tea and coffee at Mr. Peter Garrick' s, where was 
Mrs. Aston, one of the maiden sisters of Mrs. Walmsley, wife 
of Johnson's first friend, and sister also of the lady of whom 
Johnson used to speak with the warmest admiration, by the 
name of Molly Aston. 

30 Dr. Johnson went with me to the cathedral. It was grand 
and pleasing to contemplate this illustrious writer, now full 
of fame, worshipping in "the solemn temple" of his native 
city. 

I returned to tea and coffee at Mr. Peter Garrick's, and 

35 then found Dr. Johnson at the Reverend Mr. Seward's, Canon 
Residentiary, who inhabited the Bishop's palace, in which 
Air. Walmsley lived, and which had been the scene of many 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 155 

happy hours in Johnson's early life. I had the pleasure of 
seeing his celebrated daughter, Miss Anna Seward, to whom 
I have since been indebted for some obliging communications 
concerning Johnson. 

While we sat at breakfast, Dr. Johnson received a letter 5 
by the post, which seemed to agitate him very much. When 
he had read it, he exclaimed, "One of the most dreadful things 
that has happened in my time ! " The phrase my time, like 
the word age, is usually understood to refer to an event of a 
publick or general nature. I imagined something like an assas- 10 
sination of the King — like a gunpowder plot carried into exe- 
cution ■ — or like another fire of London. When asked, "What 
is it, Sir?" he answered, "Mr. Thrale has lost his only son ! 
This is a total extinction to their family, as much as if they 
were sold into captivity." I saw male succession strong in 15 
his mind, even where there was no name, no family of any long 
standing. I said, it was lucky he was not present when this 
misfortune happened. Johnson. "It is lucky for me. 
People in distress never think that you feel enough." Bos- 
well. "I own, Sir, I have not so much feeling for the dis-20 
tress of others, as some people have, or pretend to have ; but 
I know this, that I would do all in my power to relieve them." 
Johnson. "Sir, it is affectation to pretend to feel the distress 
of others, as much as they do themselves. It is equally so, 
as if one should pretend to feel as much pain while a friend's 25 
leg is cutting off, as he does. No, Sir; you have expressed 
the rational and just nature of sympathy. I would have gone 
to the extremity of the earth to have preserved this boy." 

Mrs. Aston, whom I had seen the preceding night, and her 
sister, Mrs. Gastrel, a widow lady, had each a house and 30 
garden, and pleasure ground, prettily situated upon Stowhill, 
a gentle eminence adjoining to Lichfield. Johnson walked 
away to dinner there, leaving me by myself without any 
apology. But I was soon convinced that my friend had con- 
ducted the matter with perfect propriety, for I received the 35 
following note in his handwriting: "Mrs. Gastrel, at the 
lower house on Stowhill, desires Mr. Boswell's company to 



156 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 






dinner at two." Mrs. GastreFs husband was the clergyman 
who, while he lived at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was 
proprietor of Shakspeare's garden, with Gothick barbarity 
cut down his mulberry tree, and, as Dr. Johnson told me, did 
5 it to vex his neighbours. His lady, I have reason to believe, 
on the same authority, participated in the guilt of what the 
enthusiasts of our immortal bard deem almost a species of 
sacrilege. 
After dinner Dr. Johnson wrote a letter to Mrs. Thrale, on 

10 the death of her son. I said it would be very distressing to 
Thrale, but she would soon forget it, as she had so many 
things to think of. Johnson. "No, Sir, Thrale will forget 
it first. She has many things that she may think of. He has 
many things that he must think of." 

15 He observed of Lord Bute, "It was said of Augustus, that it 
would have been better for Rome that he had never been 
born, or had never died. So it would have been better for 
this nation if Lord Bute had never been minister, or had never 
resigned." 

20 In the evening we went to the Town-hall, which was con- 
verted into a temporary theatre, and saw "Theodosius," with 
" The Stratford Jubilee. " I was happy to see Dr. Johnson sit- 
ting in a conspicuous part of the pit, and receiving affectionate 
homage from all his acquaintance. We were quite gay and 

25 merry. I afterwards mentioned to him that I condemned 
myself for being so, when poor Mr. and Mrs. Thrale were in 
such distress. Johnson. "You are wrong, Sir; twenty 
years hence Mr. and Mrs. Thrale will not suffer much pain 
from the death of their son." 

30 "Marriage, Sir, is much more necessary to a man than to a 
woman : for he is much less able to supply himself with do- 
mestick comforts. I often wonder wiry young women should 
marry, as they have so much more freedom, and so much 
more attention paid to them while unmarried, than when 

35 married." 

"Never speak of a man in his own presence. It is alwaj^s 
indelicate, and may be offensive." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 157 

" Questioning is not the mode of conversation among 
gentlemen. It is assuming a superiority, and it is particu- 
larly wrong to question a man concerning himself. There 
may be parts of his former life which he may not wish to be 
made known to other persons, or even brought to his own 5 
recollection." 

"A man should be careful never to tell tales of himself to 
his own disadvantage. People may be amused and laugh at 
the time, but they will be remembered and brought out against 
him upon some subsequent occasion/ ' 10 

Dr. Taylor's large, roomy post-chaise, drawn by four stout, 
plump horses, and driven by two steady jolly postilions, 
conveyed us to Ashbourne ; where I found my friend's school- 
fellow living upon an establishment perfectly corresponding 
with his substantial, creditable equipage : his house, garden, 15 
pleasure grounds, table, in short every thing good, and no 
scantiness appearing. Every man should form such a plan of 
living as he can execute completely. Let him not draw an out- 
line wider than he can fill up. Dr. Taylor had a considerable 
political interest in the county of Derby, which he employed 20 
to support the Devonshire family; for, though the school- 
fellow and friend of Johnson, he was a Whig. I could not 
perceive in his character much congeniality of any sort with 
that of Johnson, who, however, said to me, "Sir, he has a very 
strong understanding." His size, and figure, and counten-25 
ance, and manner, were that of a hearty English 'Squire, with 
the parson superinduced : and I took particular notice of his 
upper-servant, Mr. Peters, a decent grave man, in purple 
clothes, and a large white wig, like the butler or major domo 
of a bishop. 30 

Johnson. " There is nothing against which an old man 
should be so much upon his guard as putting himself to nurse." 
Dr. Taylor commended a physician. "I fight many battles 
for him, as many people in the country dislike him." John- 
son. "But you should consider, Sir, that by every one of 35 
your victories he is a loser ; for, every man of whom you get 
the better, will be very angry, and resolve not to employ him ; 



158 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

whereas if people get the better of you in argument about him, 
they'll think, ' We'll send for Dr. — — nevertheless/ ; ' This 
was an observation deep and sure in human nature. 

Johnson. "Fine clothes are good only as they supply the 
5 want of other means of procuring respect. Was Charles 
the Twelfth, think you, less respected for his coarse blue coat 
and black stock ? And you find the King of Prussia dresses 
plain, because the dignity of his character is sufficient. " I 
heedlessly said, "Would not you, Sir, be the better for velvet 

10 embroidery?" Johnson. "Sir, you put an end to all ar- 
gument when you introduce your opponent himself. Have 
you no better manners? There is your want." 

He used the epithet scoundrel, very commonly, not quite 
in the sense in which it is generally understood, but as a strong 

15 term of disapprobation ; as when he abruptly answered Mrs. 
Thrale, who had asked him how he did, "Ready to become a 
scoundrel, madam; with a little more spoiling you will, I 
think, make me a complete rascal ;" — he meant, easy to be- 
come a capricious and self-indulgent valetudinarian ; a char- 

20 acter for which I have heard him express great disgust. 

Johnson. "Why, Sir, a man is very apt to complain of 
the ingratitude of those who h#ve risen far above him. A 
man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of 
life, cannot keep up all his former connections. Then, Sir, 

25 those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, 

may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level." 

He said, "It is commonly a weak man, who marries for love. 

A woman of fortune being used to the handling of money, 

spends it judiciously : but a woman who gets the com- 

30 mand of money for the first time upon her marriage, has 
such a gust in spending it, that she throws it away with great 
profusion.'' 

He praised the ladies of the present age, insisting that they 
were more faithful to their husbands, and more virtuous, 

35 than in former times, because their understandings were 
better cultivated. 

I expressed an uneasy apprehension that my wife and chil- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 159 

dren might, perhaps, be ill. "Sir, (said he,) consider how 
foolish you would think it in them to be apprehensive that 
you are ill." This sudden turn relieved me for the moment; 
but I afterwards perceived it to be an ingenious fallacy. 

We stopped at Messieurs Dillys, from whence he hurried 5 
away, in a hackney coach, to Mr. Thrale's in the Borough. I 
called at his house in the evening, having promised to acquaint 
Mrs. Williams of his safe return; when, to my surprize, I 
found him sitting with her at tea, and, as I thought, not in a 
very good humour : for, it seems, when he had got to Mr. 10 
Thrale's, he found the coach was at the door waiting to carry 
Mrs. and Miss Thrale, and Signor Baretti, their Italian mas- 
ter, to Bath. This was not showing the attention which might 
have been expected to the " Guide, Philosopher, and Friend" ; 
the Imlac who had hastened from the country to console a 15 
distressed mother. 

I shewed him his " Translation of Lobo's Account of 
Abyssinia." He seemed to think it beneath him, though 
done at si x-and- twenty. I said, "Your style, Sir, is much 
improved since you translated this." He answered, with a 20 
sort of triumphant smile, "Sir, I hope it is." 

I found him very busy putting his books in order, and as 
they were generally very old ones, clouds of dust were flying 
around him. He had on a pair of large gloves such as hedgers 
use. His present appearance put me in mind of my uncle, 25 
Dr. BoswelFs description of him, "A robust genius, born to 
grapple with whole libraries." 

I gave him an account of a conversation which had passed 
between me and Captain Cook. Boswell. "One is carried 
away with the general grand and indistinct notion of A Yoy- 30 
age round the World." Johnson. "Yes, Sir, but a man 
is to guard himself against taking a thing in general." When 
a friend mentioned to him several extraordinary facts, as 
communicated to him by the circumnavigators, he slily ob- 
served, "Sir, I never before knew how much I was respected 35 
by these gentlemen ; they told me none of these things." 

He had been in company with Omai, a native of one of the 



160 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

South Sea Islands: "Sir, he had passed his time, while in 
England, only in the best company ; so that all that he had 
acquired of our manners was genteel. Lord Mulgrave and 
he dined one day at Streatham ; they sat with their backs to 
5 the light fronting me ; and there was so little of the savage 
in Omai, that I was afraid to speak to either, lest I should 
mistake one for the other." 

Boswell. "I should think that where military men were 
numerous, they would be less valued as not being rare." 

10 Johnson. "Nay, Sir, wherever a particular character or 
profession is high in the estimation of a people, those who are 
of it will be valued above other men. We value an English- 
man high in this country, and yet Englishmen are not rare in 
it." 

15 Mr. Murray praised the ancient philosophers for the can- 
dour and good humour with which those of different sects 
disputed with each other. Johnson. "Sir, they disputed 
with good humour, because they were not in earnest as to 
religion. When a man has nothing to lose, he may be in good 

20 humour with his opponent, Accordingly you see in Lucian 
the Epicurean, who argues only negatively, keeps his temper ; 
the Stoick, who has something positive to preserve, grows 
angry. Every man who attacks my belief diminishes in some 
degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy ; 

25 and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy. " Murray. 
" But, Sir, truth will always bear an examination." Johnson. 
"Yes, Sir, but it is painful to be forced to defend it. Consider, 
Sir, how should you like, though conscious of your innocence, 
to be tried before a jury for a capital crime, once a week." 

30 "A man, who has enough without teaching, will probably 

not teach ; for we would all be idle if we could. I wish there 

were many places of a thousand a year at Oxford, to keep 

first-rate men of learning from quitting the University." 

"Sir, it is of so much more consequence that truth 

35 should be told, than that individuals should not be 
made uneasy, that it is much better that the law does not 
restrain writing freely concerning the characters of the dead. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 161 

But if a man could say nothing against a character but what 
he can prove, history could not be written." 

I said, it was a pity that truth was not so firm as to bid de- 
fiance to all attacks, so that it might be shot at as much as 
people chose to attempt, and yet remain unhurt. Johnson. 5 
"Then, Sir, it would not be shot at. Nobody attempts 
to dispute that two and two make four : but with contests 
concerning moral truth, human passions are generally 
mixed, and therefore it must ever be liable to assault and 
misrepresentation." 10 

When I expressed an earnest wish for his remarks on Italy, 
he said, "I do not see that I could make a book upon Italy; 
yet I should be glad to get two hundred pounds, or five hun- 
dred pounds, by such a work. No man but a blockhead 
ever wrote except for money." 15 

Johnson had seen great variety of characters ; and none 
could observe them better, as was evident from the strong, 
yet nice portraits which he often drew. If he had made out 
what the French call une catalogue raisonnee of all the people 
who had passed under his observation it w r ould have afforded 20 
a very rich fund of instruction and entertainment. "The 
most literary conversation I ever enjoyed, was at the table of 
Jack Ellis, a money-scrivener ° behind the Royal Exchange." 
He could describe and discriminate them all with precision 
and vivacity. He associated w T itE persons the most widely 25 
different in manners, abilities, rank and accomplishments. 
He was at once the companion of the brilliant Colonel For- 
rester of the Guards, who wrote "The Polite Philosopher," 
and of the awkward and uncouth Robert Levett; of Lord 
Thurlow, and Mr. Sastres, the Italian master ; and has dined 30 
one day with the beautiful, gay, and fascinating Lady Craven, 
and the next with good Mrs. Gardiner, the tallow-chandler, 
on Snowhill. 

A large package was brought to him from the post-office, 
said to have come from Lisbon, charged seven pounds, ten 3/5 
shillings. He would not receive it, supposing it to be some 
trick. But upon enquiry afterwards he found that it was 



162 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

from a friend in the East Indies of whom he had been 
speaking. 

Johxsox. " Who is ruined b} T gaming ? You will not find 
six instances in an age. There is a strange rout made about 
5 deep play : whereas you have many more people ruined by 
adventurous trade, and yet we do not hear such an outcry 
against it. At Oxford (he said,) he wished he had 
learned to play at cards." The truth, however, is, that 
he loved to display his ingenuity in argument; and would 

10 maintain opinions which he was sensible were wrong, but in 
supporting which, his reasoning and wit would be most con- 
spicuous. He would begin thus : "Why, Sir, as to the good 
or evil of card-playing — " "Now, (said Garrick,) he is 
thinking which side he shall take." He appeared to have a 

15 pleasure in' contradiction, especially when any opinion what- 
ever was delivered with an air of confidence. 

We sat together till it was too late for the afternoon service. 
Thrale said he had come with intention to go to church with 
us. We went to evening prayers at St. Clement's church, 

20 after having drank coffee ; an indulgence, which I understood 

Johnson yielded to on this occasion, in compliment to Thrale. 

On Easter-da}^, after having been at St. Paul's cathedral, 

I came to Dr. Johnson, according to my usual custom. It 

seemed to me that there was always something peculiarly 

25 mild and placid in his manner upon this holy festival. 

A lady of my acquaintance maintained, that her husband's 
having been guilty of numberless infidelities, released her 
from conjugal obligations. Johxsox. "This is miserable 
stuff, Sir. To the contract of marriage, besides the man and 

30 wife, there is a third party — Society ; and if it be considered 
as a vow — God : and, therefore, it cannot be dissolved by 
their consent alone. Laws are not made for particular cases, 
but for men in general." 

Mr. Macbean mentioned that he had been forty years 

35 absent from Scotland. "Ah, Bo swell ! (said Johnson, smil- 
ing,) what would you give to be forty years from Scotland?" 
" The law against usury is for the protection of creditors as 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 163 

well as debtors ; for if there were no such check, people w T ould 
be apt, from the temptation of great interest, to lend to des- 
perate persons, b}^ whom they would lose their money. " 

Mrs. Williams was very peevish ; and I wondered at John- 
son's patience. His humane consideration of the forlorn 5 
and indigent state in which this lady was left by her father, 
induced him to treat her with the utmost tenderness, and 
even to be desirous of procuring her amusement, so as some- 
times to incommode many of his friends, by carrying her with 
him to their houses, where, from her manner of eating, in 10 
consequence of her blindness, she could not but offend the 
delicacy of persons of nice sensations. 

Johnson. "It is better that some should be unhappy, 
than that none should be happy, which would be the case in 
a general state of equality. " 15 

" With some people, gloomy penitence is only madness 
turned upside down." 

It was now resolved that the proposed journey to Italy 
should not take place this year. He said, "I am disappointed, 
to be sure ; but it is not a great disappointment. I shall 20 
probably contrive to get to Italy some other way. But I 
won't mention it to Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, as it might vex 
them." I suggested, that going to Italy might have done 
Mr. and Mrs. Thrale good. Johnson. "I rather believe 
not, Sir. While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only 25 
irritates. You must wait till grief be digested , and then 
amusement will dissipate the remains of it.' 7 

Johnson. " We may be excused for not caring much about 
other people's children. It may be observed, that men, who 
from being engaged in business, seldom see their children, 30 
do not care much about them. I myself should not have had 
much fondness for a child of my own." Mrs. Thrale. 
"Nay, Sir, how can you talk so?" Johnson. "At least, I 
never wished to have a child." 

I like to recollect all the passages that I heard Johnson 35 
repeat : it stamps a value on them. 

" Akenside was a superiour poet both to Gray and Mason." 



164 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Talking of the Reviews, Johnson said, "I think them very 
impartial : I do not know an instance of partiality." He ex- 
patiated a little more on them this evening. "The Monthly Re- 
viewers (said he,) are not Deists ; but the}^ are for pulling down 
5 all establishments. The Critical Reviewers are for support- 
ing the constitution both in Church and state. The Critical 
Reviewers, I believe, often review without reading the books 
through ; but lay hold of a topick, and write chiefly from their 
own minds. The Monthly Reviewers are duller men, and 

10 are glad to read the books through." 

Talking of "The Spectator," he said, "It is wonderful that 
there is such a proportion of bad papers, in the half of the 
work which was not written by Addison; for there was all 
the world to write that hah, yet not a half of that half is good. 

15 One of the finest pieces in the English language is the paper 
on Novelty, yet we do not hear it talked of. It was written 
by Grove, a dissenting teacher." He would not, I perceived, 
call him a clergyman. Mr. Murphy said, he remembered 
when there were several people alive in London who enjoyed 

20 a considerable reputation merely from having written a paper 
in "The Spectator." He mentioned particularly Mr. Ince, 
who used to frequent Tom's coffee-house. "But (said John- 
son,) you must consider how highly Steele speaks of Mr. 
Ince." 

25 Dr. Barry's notion was, that pulsation occasions death by 
attrition ; and that, therefore, the way to preserve life is to 
retard pulsation. Soon after this, Dr. Johnson said some- 
thing very flattering to Mrs. Thrale, wishing her long life. 
"Sir, (said I,) if Dr. Barry's system be true, you have now 

30 shortened Mrs. Thrale's life, perhaps, some minutes, by ac- 
celerating her pulsation." 

I dined with him at General Paoli's. Garrick talked of 
Abel Drugger ° as a small part; and related, with pleasant 
vanity, that a Frenchman, who had seen him in one of his 

35 low characters, exclaimed, "Comment! je ne le crois pas. 
Ce n'est pas Monsieur Garrick, ce Grand Homme ! " Gar- 
rick added, with an appearance of grave recollection, "If 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 165 

I were to begin life again, I think I should not play those low 
characters." I observed, "Sir, your great excellence is your 
representing so well characters so very different." Johnson. 
"Garrick, Sir, was not in earnest in what he said; for, to be 
sure, his peculiar excellence is his variety; and, perhaps, 5 
there is not any one character which has not been as well 
acted by somebody else as he could do it." Boswell. 
"Why then, Sir, did he talk so?" Johnson. "Why, Sir, 
to make you answer as you did." Boswell. "I don't 
know, Sir, he seemed to dip deep into his mind for the reflec- 10 
tion." Johnson. "He had not far to dip, Sir; he had said 
the same thing, probably, twenty times before." 

A journey to Italy ° was still in his thoughts. He said, 
"A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an 
inferiority. The grand object of travelling is to see the 15 
shores of the Mediterranean. On those shores were the four 
great Empires of the world; the Assyrian, the Persian, the 
Grecian, and the Roman. — All our religion, almost all our 
law, almost all our arts, almost all that sets us above savages, 
has come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean." / The 20 
General observed, that "The Mediterranean would be a 
noble subject for a poem." 

We talked of translation. Johnson. "You may translate 
books of science exactly. You may also translate history, 
in so far as it is not embellished with oratory, which is poetical. 25 
Poetry, indeed, cannot be translated; and, therefore, it is 
the poets that preserve languages. As the beauties of poetry 
cannot be preserved in any language except that in which it 
was originally written, we learn the language." 

Johnson. "Sir, while knowledge is a distinction, those 30 
who are possessed of it will naturally rise above those who are 
not." 

"Goldsmith (he said,) referred every thing to vanity; his 
virtues, and his vices too, were from that motive. He was 
not a social man. He never exchanged mind with you." 35 

"Thomson had a true poetical genius, the power of viewing 
every thing in a poetical light. His fault is such a cloud of words 



166 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



jhiels 



sometimes, that the sense can hardly peep through. Shie' 
was one day sitting with me. I took down Thomson, and 
read aloud a large portion of him, and then asked, — ( Is not 
this fine ? ' Shiels having expressed the highest admiration, 
5 ' Well, Sir, (said I,) I have omitted every other line.' " 

Boswell. "Does not Grays poetry, Sir, tower above the 
common mark?" Johnson. "Yes, Sir: but we must 
attend to the difference between what men in general cannot 
do if they would, and what every man may do if he would. 

10 Sixteen-string Jack towered above the common mark." 
Boswell. "Then, Sir, what is poetry?" Johnson. "Why, 
Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what 
light is : but it is not easy to tell what it is." 

I introduced Aristotle's doctrine in his "Art of Poetry," of 

15 "the KaOapcns t&v iraOrjfjLdTuv, the purging of the passions," as 
the purpose of tragedy. "But how are the passions to be 
purged by terrour and pity?" (said I, with an assumed air of 
ignorance, to incite him to talk.) Johnson. "Why, Sir, the 
passions are the great movers of human actions ; but they are 

20 mixed with such impurities, that it is necessary they should 
be purged or refined by means of terrour and pity. For 
instance, ambition is a noble passion; but by seeing upon 
the stage that a man who is so excessively ambitious as to 
raise himself by injustice is punished, we are terrified at the 

25 fatal consequences of such a passion." Johnson's expression 
was so forcible and brilliant, that Mr. Cradock whispered 
me, "0 that his words were written in a book !" 

I observed the great defect of the tragedy of "Othello" 
was, that it had not a moral ; for that no man could resist the 

30 circumstances of suspicion which were artfully suggested to 
Othello's mind. Johnson. "In the first place, Sir, we learn 
from ' Othello ' this very useful moral, not to make an unequal 
match ; in the second place, we learn not to yield, too readily, 
to suspicion. The handkerchief is merely a trick, though 

35 a very pretty trick. No, Sir, I think ' Othello ' has more moral 
than almost any play." 

Talking of a penurious gentleman Johnson said, "Sir, he 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 167 

is narrow, not so much from avarice, as from impotence to 
spend his money. He cannot find in his heart to pour out a 
bottle of wine ; but he would not much care if it should sour." 

Mr. Murphy paid him the highest compliment ever paid 
to a layman, by asking his pardon for repeating some oaths in 5 
the course of telling a story. 

Johnson and I supped this evening at the Crown and Anchor 
tavern, in company with Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

We discussed the question, whether drinking improved 
conversation and benevolence. Sir Joshua maintained it did. 10 
"I am sure that moderate drinking makes people talk better." 
Johnson. " No, Sir ; wine gives not light, gay, ideal hilarity ; 
but tumultuous, noisy, clamorous merriment. I have heard 
none of those drunken, — nay, drunken is a coarse word, — 
none of those vinous flights." Sir Joshua. " Because you 15 
have sat by, quite sober, and felt an envy of the happiness of 
those who were drinking." Johnson. " Perhaps, contempt. 
— And, Sir, it is not necessary to be drunk one's self, to relish 
the wit of drunkenness. Do we not judge of the drunken wit 
of the dialogue between Iago and Cassio, the most excellent 20 
in its kind, when we are quite sober ? Wit is wit, by what- 
ever means it is produced ; I admit that the spirits are raised 
by drinking, as by the common participation of any pleasure : 
cock-fighting, or bear-baiting, will raise the spirits of a com- 
pany, as drinking does, though surely they will not improve 25 
conversation. I also admit, that there are some sluggish men 
who are improved by drinking ; as there are fruits which are 
not good till they are rotten. There are such men, but they 
are medlars. There is no position, however false in its uni- 
versality, which is not true of some particular man." Sir 30 
William Forbes said, " Might not a man warmed with wine 
be like a bottle of beer, which is made brisker by being set 
before the fire ?" — "Nay, (said Johnson, laughing,) I cannot 
answer that : that is too much for me. Sir, I do not say 
it is wrong to produce self-complacency by drinking ; I only 35 
deny that it improves the mind." 

He said, that for general improvement, a man should read 



168 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

whatever his immediate inclination prompts him to ; though 
to be sure, if a man has a science to learn, he must regularly 
and resolutely advance. "What we read with inclination 
makes a much stronger impression. If we read without in- 
5 duration, half the mind is employed in fixing the attention." 
He read Fielding's "Amelia" through, without stopping. 
"If a man begins to read in the middle of a book, and feels 
an inclination to go on, let him not quit it, to go to the be- 
ginning. He may perhaps not feel again the inclination." 

10 I went to Bath; and on my arrival at the Pelican inn, 
found lying for me an obliging invitation from Mr. and Mrs. 
Thrale. They were gone to the rooms : but there was a kind 
note from Dr. Johnson, that he should sit at home all the 
evening. Before Mr. and Mrs. Thrale returned, we had by 

15 ourselves some hours of tea-drinking and talk. 

Johnson. "They who allow their passions to confound 
the distinctions between right and wrong are criminal." 

A certain female political writer, whose doctrines he dis- 
liked, had of late become very fond of dress. Johnson. " 

20 is better she should be reddening her own cheeks, than blac 
ening other people's characters." 

He told us that "Addison wrote BudgelTs papers in the Spe 
tator, at least mended them so much, that he made them a 
most his own; and that Draper, TonsoiTs partner, assure 

25 Mrs. Johnson, that the much admired Epilogue to ' The Di 
tressed Mother/ which came out in BudgelTs name, we 
in reality written by Addison." 

Of the father of one of our friends, he observed, "He neve 
clarified his notions, by filtrating them through other minde 

30 He had a canal upon his estate, where at one place the ban, 
was too low. — 'I dug the canal deeper/ said he." 

A literary lady of large fortune did good to many, evidently 
from vanity. Johnson. "I have seen no beings who do si 
much good from benevolence, as she does from whatever 

35 motive." 

Even Mrs. Thrale did not escape his friendly animadversion. 
When he and I were one day endeavouring to ascertain, ar- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 169 

tide by article, how one of our friends could possibly spend as 
much money in his family as he told us he did, she interrupted 
us by a lively extravagant sally on the expence of clothing his 
children, describing it in a very ludicrous and fanciful manner. 
Johnson looked a little angry, and said, "Nay, Madam, when 5 
you are declaiming, declaim ; and when you are calculating, 
calculate. " At another time, when she said, perhaps af- 
fectedly, "I don't like to fly." Johnson. "With your 
wings, Madam, you must fly : but have a care, there are 
clippers abroad." 10 

A gentleman expressed a wish to go and live three years at 
Otaheite, or New Zealand, in order to be satisfied what pure 
nature can do for man. Johnson. "What could you learn, 
Sir? Of the past, or the invisible, they can tell nothing. 
What account of their religion can you suppose to be learnt 15 
from savages ? Only consider, Sir, our own state : our re- 
ligion is in a book ; we have an order of men whose duty it is 
to teach it, we have one day in the week set apart for it. Yet 
ask the first ten gross men you meet, and hear what they can 
tell of their religion." 20 

He and I made an excursion to Bristol, where I was enter- 
tained with seeing him enquire upon the spot, into the au- 
thenticity of "Rowley's Poetry," as I had seen him enquire 
upon the spot into the authenticity of " Ossian's Poetry." 
George Cat cot, the pewter er, who was as zealous for Rowley, 25 
as Dr. Hugh Blair was for Ossian, with a triumphant air of 
lively simplicity called out, "I'll make Dr. Johnson a convert." 
Dr. Johnson, at his desire, read aloud some of Chatterton's 
fabricated verses, while Catcot stood at the back of his chair, 
moving himself like a pendulum, and beating time with his 30 
feet, and now and then looking into Dr. Johnson's face, won- 
dering that he was not yet convinced. We saw some of 
the originals as they were called, which were executed very 
artificially. Honest Catcot seemed to pay no attention 
whatever to any objections, but insisted, as an end of all 35 
controversy, that we should go with him to the tower of the 
church of St. Mary, Redcliff, and view with our own eyes the 



170 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ancient chest in which the manuscripts were found. Dr. 
Johnson good-naturedly agreed ; and though troubled with a 
shortness of breathing, laboured up a long flight of steps. 
" There, (said Catcot, with a bouncing confident credulity,) 
5 there is the very chest itself." After this ocular demonstra- 
tion, there was no more to be said. Johnson said of Chat- 
terton, "It is wonderful how the whelp has written such 
things." 

We were by no means pleased with our inn at Bristol. 

10 Johnson w r as ready with his raillery. "Why, it was so bad, 
that Boswell wished to be in Scotland ! " 

Johnson. "Where there is no education, as in savage 
countries, men will have the upper hand of women. Bodily 
strength, no doubt, contributes to this ; but it w^ould be so, 

IS exclusive of that ; for it is mind that always governs. 

When it comes to dry understanding, man has the better." 

"There is much talk of the misery which we cause to the 

brute creation; but they are recompensed by existence." 

Boswell. "But the question is, whether the animals who 

20 endure such sufferings of various kinds, for the service and 
entertainment of man, would accept of existence, upon the 
terms on which they have it. Madame de Sevigne complains 
of the task of existence having been imposed upon her without 
her consent." 

25 Johnson. "That man is never happy for the present is 
so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting 
himself for a little while. Life is a progress from want to 
want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment." 

"Though many are nominally entrusted with the admin- 

30 istration of hospitals and other publick institutions, almost 
all the good is done by one, by whom the rest are driven on ; 
owing to confidence in him, and indolence in them." 

"Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his son, I think, might be 
made a very pretty book. Take out the immorality, and it 

35 should be put in the hands of every young gentleman. An 
elegant manner and easiness of behaviour are acquired gradu- 
ally and imperceptibly. Xo man can say, Til be genteel/ 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 171 

There are ten genteel women for one genteel man, because 
they are more restrained. A man without some degree of 
restraint is insufferable ; but we are all less restrained than 
women. Were a woman sitting in compan}^ to put out her 
legs before her as most men do, we should be tempted to kick 5 
them in. Every man of any education would rather be 
called a rascal, than accused of deficiency in the graces." 
Mr. Gibbon turned to a lady, and in his quaint manner, 
tapping his box, " Don't you think, Madam, (looking towards 
Johnson,) that among all your acquaintance you could find 10 
one exception?" 

Johnson. "Mrs. Williams was angry that Thrale's family 
did not send regularly to her every time they heard from me 
while I was in the Hebrides. Little people are apt to be 
jealous : but they ought to consider, that superiour attention 15 
will necessarily be paid to superiour fortune or rank." 

Of his notes on Shakspeare, he said, "I despise those who 
do not see that I am right in the passage ' asses of great charge/ ° 
That on 'To be, or not to be/ is disputable." 

"Many things false are transmitted from book to book, and 20 
gain credit in the world. One is the cry against luxury. 
A man gives half a guinea for a dish of green peas. How much 
gardening does this occasion? You will hear it said, very 
gravely, 'Why was not the half guinea, thus spent in luxury, 
given to the poor ' ? Alas ! has it not gone to the industrious 25 
poor, whom it is better to support than the idle poor ? You 
are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money 
to those who work, as the recompence of their labour, than 
when you give money merely in charity." 

Johnson observed, "Oglethorpe, Sir, never completes what 30 
he has to say." 

He made a similar remark on Lord Elibank : "Sir, there is 
nothing conclusive in his talk." 

When I complained of having dined at a splendid table 
without hearing one sentence of conversation worthy of being 35 
remembered, he said, "Sir, there seldom is any such con- 
versation.' ' Boswell. ' ' Why then meet at table ? ' ' John- 



172 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

son. "Why to eat and drink together, and to promote 
kindness ; and, Sir, this is better done when there is no solid 
conversation : for when there is, people differ in opinion, and get 
into bad humour, or some of the company who are not capable 
5 of such conversation, are left out, and feel themselves uneasy." 
Being irritated by hearing a gentleman ask Mr. Levett a 
variety of questions concerning him, when he was sitting by, 
he broke out, "Sir, you have but two topicks, yourself and me. 
I am sick of both." 

10 I solicited his attention to a law case in which I was en- 
gaged. The "Liberty of the pulpit " was our great ground of 
defence. Johnson. " The right of censure and rebuke seems 
necessarily appendant to the pastoral office. He, to whom 
the care of a congregation is entrusted, is considered as the 

15 shepherd of a flock, as the teacher of a school, as the father 
of a family. As a shepherd tending not his own sheep but 
those of his master, he is answerable for those that stray, and 
that lose themselves by straying. As a teacher giving in- 
struction for wages, if those whom he undertakes to inform 

20 make no proficiency, he must have the power of enforcing 
attendance, of awakening negligence^ and repressing contra- 
diction. As a father, he possesses the paternal authority 
of admonition, rebuke, and punishment. If we enquire into 
the practice of the primitive church, we shall, I believe, find 

25 the ministers of the word exercising the whole authority of 
this complicated character. It therefore appears from 
ecclesiastical history, that the right of inflicting shame by 
public censure has been always considered as inherent in 
the Church. By the civil power it was never taken away. 

30 It is not improbable that from this acknowledged power of 
publick censure, grew in time the practice of auricular con- 
fession." 

When I read this to Mr. Burke, he exclaimed, "Well ; he 
does his work in a workman-like manner." 

35 I conceived an irresistible wish to bring Dr. Johnson and 
Mr. Wilkes together. How to manage it, was a nice and 
difficult matter. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 173 

My worthy booksellers and friends, Messieurs Dilly in the 
Poultry, at whose hospitable and well-covered table I have 
seen a greater number of literary men, than at any other, 
except that of Sir Joshua Reynolds, had invited me to meet 
Mr. Wilkes and some more gentlemen. "Pray, (said I,) 5 
let us have Dr. Johnson/' — " What, with Mr. Wilkes? 
not for the world, (said Mr. Edward Dilly;) Dr. Johnson 
would never forgive me." — "Come, (said I,) if you'll let 
me negotiate for you, I will be answerable that all shall 
go well." 10 

Dr. Johnson was sometimes actuated by the spirit of con- 
tradiction, and by means of that I hoped I should gain my 
point. If I had come upon him with a direct proposal, "Sir, 
will you dine in company with Jack Wilkes ? " he would have 
flown into a passion, and would probably have answered, 15 
"Dine with Jack Wilkes, Sir! I'd as soon dine with Jack 
Ketch." I therefore, while we were sitting quietly by our- 
selves at his house in an evening, took occasion to open my 
plan thus: — "Mr. Dilly, Sir, sends his respectful compli- 
ments to you, and would be happy if you would do him the 20 
honour to dine with him on Wednesday next along with me, 
as I must soon go to Scotland." Johnson. "Sir, I am 
obliged to Mr. Dilly. I will wait upon him — " Boswell. 
"Provided, Sir, I suppose, that the company which he is to 
have, is agreeable to you." Johnson. "What do you mean, 25 
Sir? What do you take me for? Do you think I am so 
ignorant* of the world, as to imagine that I am to prescribe to 
a gentleman what company he is to have at his table?" 
Boswell. "I beg your pardon, Sir, for wishing to prevent 
you from meeting people whom you might not like. Perhaps 30 
he may have some of what he calls his patriotick friends with 
him." Johnson. "Well, Sir, and what then? Wliat care 
I lor his patriotick friends? Poh!" Boswell. "I should 
not be surprized to find Jack Wilkes there." Johnson. 
"And if Jack Wilkes should be there, what is that to me, Sir? 35 
My dear friend, let us have no more of this. I am sorry to 
be angry with you ; but really it is treating me strangely to 



174 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

talk to me as if I could not meet an} 7 company whatever, 
occasionally." Thus I secured him. 

Upon the much expected Wednesday, I called on him about 
half an hour before dinner, as I often did when we were, to 
5 dine out together, to see that he was ready in time, and to 
accompany him. I found him buffeting his books, covered 
with dust, and making no preparation for going abroad. 
"How is this, Sir? (said I). Don't you recollect that you 
are to dine at Air. Dilly's ? " Johnson. "Sir, I did not think 

10 of going to Dilly's : it went out of my head. I have ordered 
dinner at home with Mrs. Williams. You must talk to Mrs. 
Williams about this." 

Here was a sad dilemma. If she should be obstinate, he 
would not stir. I hastened down stairs to the blind lady's 

15 room, and told her I was in great uneasiness, for Dr. Johnson 
had engaged to dine at Air. Dilly's, but that he had told me he 
had forgotten his engagement, and had ordered dinner at 
home. "Yes, Sir, (said she, pretty peevishly,) Dr. Johnson 
is to dine at home." — "Madam, (said I,) his respect for 

20 you is such, that I know he will not leave you, unless you ab- 
solutely desire it. But as you have so much of his company, 
I hope you will be good enough to forego it for a day : as Air. 
Dilly is a very worthy man, has frequently had agreeable 
parties at his house for Dr. Johnson, and will be vexed if the 

25 Doctor neglects Mm to-day. And then, Madam, be pleased 
to consider my situation; I carried the message, and I as- 
sured Air. Dilly that Dr. Johnson was to come ; and no doubt 
he has made a dinner, and invited a company, and boasted of 
the honour he expected to have. I shall be quite disgraced 

30 if the Doctor is not there." She gradually softened to my 
solicitations, and was graciously pleased to empower me to 
tell Dr. Johnson, "That all things considered, she thought 
he should certainly go." I flew back to him, still in dust, and 
"indifferent in his choice to go or stay ;" but as soon as I had 

35 announced Airs. Williams's consent, he roared, "Frank, a clean 
shirt," and was very soon drest. When I had him fairfy 
seated in a hackney-coach with me, I exulted as much as a 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 175 

fortune hunter who has got an heiress into a post-chaise with 
him to set out for Gretna-Green. 

When we entered Mr. Dilly's drawing-room, he found 
himself in the midst of a company he did not know. I kept 
myself snug and silent, watching how he would conduct 5 
himself. I observed him whispering to Mr. Dilly, "Who is 
that gentleman, Sir?"— - "Mr. Arthur Lee." — Johnson. 
"Too, too, too," (under his breath,) which was one of his 
habitual mutterings. Mr. Arthur Lee could not but be very 
obnoxious to Johnson, for he was not only a patriot, but an 10 
American. He was afterwards minister from the United 
States at the court of Madrid. "And who is the gentleman 
in lace?" — "Mr. Wilkes, Sir." This information con- 
founded him still more : he had some difficulty to restrain 
himself, and taking up a book, sat down upon a window-seat 15 
and read, or at least kept his eye upon it intently for some 
time, till he composed himself. His feelings, I dare say, 
were awkward enough. But he no doubt recollected his hav- 
ing rated me for supposing that he could be at all disconcerted 
by any company, and he, therefore, resolutely set himself 20 
to behave quite as an easy man of the world, who could adapt 
himself at once to the disposition and manners of those 
whom he might chance to meet. 

The cheering sound of "Dinner is upon the table," dissolved 
his reverie. Mr. Wilkes placed himself next to Dr. Johnson, 25 
and behaved to him with so much attention and politeness, 
that he gained upon him insensibly. No man eat° more 
heartily than Johnson, or loved better what was nice and 
delicate. Mr. Wilkes was very assiduous in helping him to 
some fine veal. "Pray give me leave, Sir ; — It is better here 30 

— A little of the brown — Some fat, Sir — A little of the 
stuffing — Some gravy — Let me have the pleasure of giving 
you some butter — Allow me to recommend a squeeze of 
this orange ; — or the lemon, perhaps, may have more zest." 

— "Sir, Sir, I am obliged to you, Sir," cried Johnson, 35 
bowing and turning his head to him with a look for some 
time of "surly virtue," but, in a short while, of complacency. 



176 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Foote being mentioned, Johnson said, "One species of wit 
he has in an eminent degree, that of escape. You drive him 
into a corner with both hands ; but he's gone, Sir, when you 
think you have got him — like an animal that jumps over your 
5 head. Then he has a great range for wit ; he never lets truth 
stand between him and a jest, and he is sometimes mighty 
coarse. Garrick is under many restraints from which Foote is 
free. The first time I was in company with Foote, I was 
resolved not to be pleased ; and it is very difficult to please 

10 a man against his will. I went on eating my dinner pretty 
sullenly, affecting not to mind him. But the dog was so 
very comical, that I was obliged to lay down my knife and 
fork, throw myself back upon my chair, and fairly laugh it 
out. No, Sir, he was irresistible. He upon one occasion 

15 experienced, in an extraordinary degree, the efficacy of his 
powers of entertaining. Amongst the many and various 
modes which he tried of getting money, he became a partner 
with a small-beer brewer. Fitzherbert took his small-beer; 
but it was so bad that the servants resolved not to drink it. 

20 They fixed upon a little black boy, to deliver their remonstrance. 
He was to inform Mr. Fitzherbert, in all their names, upon a 
certain day, that they would drink Foote's small-beer no 
longer. On that day Foote happened to dine at Fitzherbert's 
and this boy served at table ; he was so delighted with Foote's 

25 stories, and merriment, and grimace, that when he went down 

stairs, he told them, 'This is the finest man I have ever seen. 

I will not deliver your message. I will drink his small-beer.' " 

Somebody observed that Garrick could not have done this. 

Wilkes. " Garrick would have made the small-beer still 

30 smaller. He is now leaving the stage ; but he will play 
Scrub all his life." Johnson would let nobody attack Garrick 
but himself, so to bring out his commendation I said, loudly, 
"I have heard Garrick is liberal." Johnson. "Yes, Sir, I 
know that Garrick has given away more money than any 

35 man in England that I am acquainted with, and that not from 
ostentatious views." 
Talking of the great difficulty of obtaining authentick infor- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. Ill 

mation for biography, Johnson told us, "When I was a young 
fellow I wanted to write the 'Life of Dry den/ and in order to 
get materials, I applied to the only two persons then alive who 
had seen him; these were old Swinney, and old Gibber. 
Swinney's information was no more than this, 'That at Will's 5 
coffee-house Dryden had a particular chair for himself, which 
was set by the fire in winter, and was then called his winter 
chair ; and that it was carried out for him to the balcony in 
summer, and was then called his summer- chair. ; Gibber 
could tell no more but 'That he remembered him a decent 10 
old man, arbiter of critical disputes at Will's/ Cibber had 
perhaps one leg only in the room, and durst not draw in the 
other." 

Dr. Johnson and Mr. Wilkes talked of the contested passage 
in Horace's Art of Poetry, " Difficile est proprie communia di- 15 
cere." Johnson. "He means that it is difficult to appro- 
priate to particular persons qualities which are common to all 
mankind, as Homer has done." 

Wilkes. "We have no City-Poet now. The last was 
Elkanah Settle. Elkanah Settle sounds so queer, who can 20 
expect much from that name ? We should have no hesitation 
to give it for John Dryden, in preference to Elkanah Settle, 
from the names only." 

Some Scotch had taken possession of a barren part of 
America. Johnson. "Why, Sir, all barrenness is comparative. 25 
The Scotch would not know it to be barren." Boswell. 
" Come, come, he is nattering the English. You have now been 
in Scotland, Sir, and say if you did not see meat and drink 
enough there." Johnson. "Why yes, Sir; meat and drink 
enough to give the inhabitants sufficient strength to run 30 
away from home." All these quick and lively sallies were 
said sportively, quite in jest, and with a smile, which showed 
that he meant only wit. Upon this topick he and Mr. 
Wilkes could perfectly assimilate ; here was a bond of union 
between them. They amused themselves with persevering 35 
in the old jokes. I claimed a superiority for Scotland over 
England in one respect, that a seizure of the person, before 



178 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

judgement is obtained, can take place only if his creditor 
should swear that he is about to fry from the country. Wilkes. 
"That, I should think, may be safely sworn of all the Scotch 
nation." Johnson. (To Mr. Wilkes.) "You must know, 
5 Sir, I lately took my friend Boswell, and shewed him genuine 
civilized life in an English provincial town. I turned him 
loose at Lichfield, my native city, that he might see for once 
real civility : for you know he lives among savages in Scotland 
and among rakes in London." Wilkes. "Except when he 
10 is with grave, sober, decent people, like you and me." John- 
son. (Smiling) "And we ashamed of him." 

They were quite frank and easy. Johnson told the story 

of his asking Mrs. Macaulay to allow her footman to sit down 

with them, to prove the ridiculousness of the arguments for 

15 the equality of mankind, and he said to me afterwards, 

with a nod of satisfaction, "You saw Mr. Wilkes acquiesced." 

After dinner we had an accession of Mrs. Knowles, the 
Quaker lady, well known for her various talents, and of Mr. 
Alderman Lee. Amidst some patriotick groans, somebody 
20 said, "Poor old England is lost." Johnson. "Sir, it is 
not so much to be lamented that old England is lost, as that 
the Scotch have found it." 

Mr. Burke gave me much credit for this successful negotia- 
tion; and pleasantly said, "that there was nothing equal to it 
25 in the whole history of the Corps Diplomatique." 

I attended Dr. Johnson home, and had the satisfaction to 
hear him tell Mrs. Williams how much he had been pleased 
with Mr. Wilkes, and what an agreeable day he had passed. 

I talked of the celebrated Margaret Caroline Rudd, whom 
30 I had visited, induced by the fame of her talents, address, 
and irresistible power of fascination. To a lady who dis- 
approved of my visiting her, he said on a former occasion, 
"Nay, Madam, Boswell is in the right ; I should have visited 
her myself, were it not that they have now a trick of putting 
35 every thing into the news-papers. I envy him his acquaint- 
ance with Mrs. Rudd." ° 

I mentioned a scheme which I had of making a tour to the 



LL.D. 179 

Isle of Man, and giving a full account of it ; and that Mr. 
Burke had playfully suggested as a motto, 

" The proper study of mankind is Man." 

Johnson. "Sir, you will get more by the book than the 
jaunt will cost you ; so you will have your diversion for noth- 5 
ing, and add to your reputation." 

I thanked him with great warmth for all his kindness. 
"Sir, (said he,) you are very welcome. Nobody repays it 
with more." 

How very false is the notion that has gone round the world 10 
of the rough and passionate and harsh manners of this great 
and good man. I admit that the beadle within him was 
often so eager to apply the lash, that the Judge had not 
time to consider the case with sufficient deliberation. 

To Sir Joshua Reynolds. 15 

" I send you the poor dear Doctor's epitaph. Read it first 
yourself ; and if you then think it right, show it to the Club. 
I am, you know, willing to be corrected. If you think any 
thing much amiss, keep it to yourself, till we come together. 
Sam. Johnson." 20 

"Olivarii Goldsmith, 
Poetse, Physici, Historici, 
Qui nullum fere scribendi genus 
Non tetigit, 
Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit : 25 

Sive risus essent movendi, 
Sive lacrymse, 
Affectuum potens at lenis dominator : 
Ingenio sublimis, vividus, versatilis, 
Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus : 30 

Hoc monumento memoriam coluit 
Sodalium amor 
Amicorum fides, 
Lectorum veneratio. 



180 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Natus in Hibernia Fornix Longfordiensis, 

In loco cui nomen Pallas, 

Nov. xxix. mdccxxxi; 

Eblanse Uteris institutus; 

5 Obiit Londini, 

April. iv ; mdcclxxiv." 

Sir William Forbes writes to me thus : "I enclose the Round 
Robin. This jeu d' esprit took its rise one day at dinner at our 
friend Sir Joshua Reynolds's. The Epitaph became the 

10 subject of conversation, and various emendations were sug- 
gested. But the question was, who should have the courage 
to propose them to him ? At last it was hinted, that there 
could be no way so good as that of a Round Robin, as the 
sailors call it, which they make use of when they enter into 

15 a conspiracy, so as not to let it be known who puts his name 
first or last to the paper. Mr. Burke then proposed the 
address as it stands in the paper in writing, to which I had the 
honour to officiate as clerk. Sir Joshua agreed to carry it to 
Dr. Johnson, who received it with much good humour, and 

20 desired Sir Joshua to tell the gentlemen, that he would alter 
the Epitaph in any manner they pleased, as to the sense of 
it ; but he would never consent to disgrace the walls of West- 
minster Abbey with an English inscription. 

Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Boswell. 
25 " Madam, 

"You will now have Mr. Boswell home; it is well that 
you have him ; he has led a wild life. I have taken him to 
Lichfield, and he has followed Mr. Thrale to Bath. Pray take 
care of him, and tame him. The only thing in which I have 
30 the honour to agree with you is, in loving him : and while we 
are so much of mind in a matter of so much importance, 
our other quarrels will, I hope, produce no great bitterness. 
I am, Madam, 

"Your most humble servant, 
35 "Sam. Johnson." 

"May 16, 1776." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 181 

On Easter day we find the following emphatick prayer: 
" Almighty and most merciful Father, who seest all our 
miseries, and knowest all our necessities, look down upon 
me, and pity me. Defend me from the violent incursion of 
evil thoughts, and enable me to form and keep such resolu- 5 
tions as may conduce to the discharge of the duties which thy 
providence shall appoint me ; and so help me, by thy Holy 
Spirit, that my heart may surely there be fixed, where true 
joys are to be found, and that I may serve thee with pure 
affection and a cheerful mind. Have mercy upon me, God, 10 
have mercy upon me; years and infirmities oppress me, 
terrour and anxiety beset me. Have mercy upon me, my 
Creator and my Judge." 

While he was at church, the agreeable impressions upon his 
mind are thus commemorated: "I was for some time dis- 15 
tressed, but at last obtained, I hope from the God of Peace, 
more quiet than I have enjoyed for a long time. I had made 
no resolution, but as my heart grew lighter, my hopes revived, 
and my courage increased; and I wrote with my pencil in 
my Common Prayer Book, 20 

" Vita ordinanda. 
Biblia legenda. 
Theologice opera danda. 
Serviendum et Iwtandum" 

To BOSWELL. 25 

"I have been much pleased with your late letter, and am 
glad that my old enemy, Mrs. Boswell, begins to feel some 
remorse. As to Miss Veronica's Scotch, I think it cannot be 
helped. Her dialect will not be gross. Her mamma has not 
much Scotch, and you have yourself very little. I hope she 30 
knows my name, and does not call me Johnston. 

"It is proposed to augment our club° from twenty to 
thirty, of which I am glad ; for as we have several in it whom I 
do not much like to consort with, I am for reducing it to a 
mere miscellaneous collection of conspicuous men, without 35 
any determinate character. . . . 



182 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"Tell Mrs. Boswell that I shall taste her marmalade cau- 
tiously at first. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Beware, 
says the Italian proverb, of a reconciled enemy. She is, after 
all, a dear, dear lady. 
5 "I am engaged to write little Lives, and little Prefaces, to a 
little edition of the English Poets. I think I have persuaded 
the booksellers to insert something of Thomson. Sam. 
Johnson." 

He has a memorandum in this year, 1777 " 29 May, Easter- 
10 Eve, I treated with booksellers on a bargain, but the time was 
not long. " The bargain was concerning that undertaking; 
but his tender conscience seems alarmed, lest it should have 
intruded too much on his devout preparation for the solemnity 
of the ensuing day. 
15 The Tragedy of "Sir Thomas Overbury," written by his 
early companion in London, Richard Savage, was brought 
out with alterations at Covent Garden. The Prologue to it 
was written by Mr. Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The con- 
cluding lines of this Prologue were these : 

20 "So pleads the tale that gives to future times 

The son's misfortunes and the parent's crimes ; 
There shall his fame (if own'd to-night) survive, 
Fix'd by the hand that bids our language live." 

To Boswell. 

25 "Poor Dodd° was put to death yesterday, in opposition 
to the recommendation of the jury, — the petition of the city 
of London, — and a petition signed by three-and-twenty 
thousand hands. Surely the voice of the publick, when it 
calls so loudly, and calls only for mercy, ought to be heard. 

30 " The saying that was given me in the papers I never spoke ; 

but I wrote many of his .petitions, and letters. He applied 

to me very often. He was, I am afraid, long flattered with 

hopes of life ; but I had no part in the dreadful delusion. 

"Your notion of the necessity of an yearly interview is 

35 very pleasing to both my vanity and tenderness. I shall 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 183 

perhaps, come to Carlisle another year; but my money has 
not held out so well as it used to do. I shall go to Ashbourne, 
and I purpose to make Dr. Taylor invite you. 

"Mrs. Williams is in the country, to try if she can improve 
her health ; she is very ill. Matters have come so about that 5 
she is in the country with very good accommodation ; but age, 
and sickness, and pride, have made her so peevish that I was 
forced to bribe the maid to stay with her, by a secret stipula- 
tion of half a crown a week over wages. 

"On Saturday I wrote a very short letter, immediately 10 
upon my arrival hither, to shew you that I am not less desirous 
of the interview than yourself. Life admits not of delays; 
when pleasure can be had, it is fit to catch it: Every hour 
takes away part of the things that please us, and perhaps part 
of our disposition to be pleased. If you and I live to be 15 
much older, we shall take great delight in talking over the 
Hebridean Journey. 

"In the mean time it may not be amiss to contrive some 
other little adventure, but what it can be I know not ; leave it, 
as Sidney says, 20 

1 To virtue, fortune, time, and woman's breast ' ; 

for I believe Mrs. Boswell must have some part in the consul- 
tation. Sam. Johnson." 

There had been an earthquake. Johnson. "Sir, it will be 
much exaggerated in public talk : for, in the first place, the 25 
common people do not accurately adapt their thoughts to the 
objects; nor, secondly, do they accurately adapt their words 
to their thoughts : they do not mean to lie ; but, taking no 
pains to be exact, they give you very false accounts. A great 
part of their language is proverbial. If any thing rocks at all, 30 
they say it rocks like a cradle; and in this way they go on." 

Johnson. "All grief, for what cannot in the course of 
nature be helped, soon wears away ; unless where there is mad- 
ness. If, indeed, the cause of our grief is occasioned by our 
own misconduct, if grief is mingled with remorse of conscience, 35 



184 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

it should be lasting." Boswell. "But, Sir, we do not 
approve of a man who very soon forgets the loss of a wife or a 
friend." Johnson. "Sir, we disapprove of him, not because 
he soon forgets his grief; for the sooner it is forgotten the 
5 better, but because we suppose, that if he forgets his wife 
or his friend soon, he has not had much affection for them." 

He was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the book- 
sellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any 
dunce's works, if they should ask him. Johnson. "Yes, 

10 Sir, and say he was a dunce." 

Johnson told me, that "Taylor was a very sensible, acute 
man, and had a strong mind : and yet such a sort of indolence, 
that if you should put a pebble upon his chimney-piece, you 
would find it there, in the same state, a year afterwards." 

15 Dr. William Dodd, chaplain in ordinary to his Majesty; 
celebrated as a very popular preacher, an encourager of char- 
itable institutions, having unhappily contracted expensive 
habits of living, he in an evil hour, when pressed by want of 
money, and dreading an exposure of his circumstances, forged 

20 a bond, flattering himself with hopes that he might be able 
to repa} r its amount without being detected. The person 
whose name he thus rashly and criminally presumed to falsify, 
was the Earl of Chesterfield, to whom he had been tutor, and 
who, he perhaps, in the warmth of his feelings, flattered himself 

25 would have generously paid the money, rather than suffer 
him to fall a victim to the dreadful consequences of violating 
the law against forgery. His noble pupil appeared against 
him, and he was capitally convicted. In his distress he be- 
thought himself of Johnson's persuasive power of writing, if 

30 haply it might avail to obtain for him the Royal Mercy. 

Johnson gave us this evening, in his happy discriminative 
manner, a portrait of the late Mr. Fitzherbert of Derbyshire. 
"There was (said he,) no sparkle, no brilliancy in Fitzherbert ; 
but I never knew a man who was so generally acceptable. He 

35 made every body quite easy, overpowered nobody by the 
superiority of his talents, made no man think worse of himself 
by being his rival, seemed always to listen, did not oblige you 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 185 

to hear much from him,- and did not oppose what you said. A 
gentleman was making an affected rant, as many people do, 
of great feelings about 'his dear son/ who was at school near 
London ; how anxious he was lest he might be ill, and what 
he would give to see him. ' Can't you (said Fitzherbert,) take 5 
a post-chaise and go to him?' This finished the affected 
man. 

"Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have 
said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better 
of this by saying many things to please him." 10 

Taylor thus described his old school-fellow and friend, John- 
son : " He is a man of a very clear head, great power of words, 
and a very gay imagination ; but there is no disputing with 
him. He will not hear you, and having a louder voice than 
you, must roar you down." 15 

I tried to get Dr. Johnson to like the Poems of Mr. Hamil- 
ton. He laughed at the rhyme, in Scotch pronunciation, 
wishes and blushes, reading wushes. When I urged that there 
were some good poetical passages in the book, "Where (said 
he,) will you find so large a collection without some ?" 20 

The Reverend Mr. Seward of Lichfield drank tea with 
us. Johnson described him thus: — "Sir, his ambition is 
to be a fine talker ; so he goes to Buxton, and such places, 
where he may find companies to listen to him. And, Sir, he is 
a valetudinarian, one of those who are always mending them- 25 
selves. I do not know a more disagreeable character than a 
valetudinarian, who thinks he may do any thing that is for 
his ease, and indulges himself in the grossest freedoms : Sir, 
he brings himself to the state of a hog in a stye." 

Talking of biography, I said a man's peculiarities should be 30 
mentioned, because they mark hi's character. Johnson. 
" Sir, there is no doubt as to the peculiarities : the question is 
whether a man's vices should be mentioned; for instance, 
whether it should be mentioned that Addison and Parnell 
drank too freely ; for people will probably more easily indulge 35 
in drinking from knowing this ; so that more ill may be done 
by the example, than good by telling the whole truth." Here 



186 

was an instance of his varying from himself in talk ; for when 
Lord Hailes and he sat one morning calmly conversing in my 
house at Edinburgh, I well remember that Dr. Johnson 
maintained, that "If a man is to write A Panegyrick, he may 
5 keep vices out of sight : but if he professes to write A Life, 
he must represent it really as it was;" and when I objected 
to the danger of telling that Parnell drank to excess, he said, 
that "it would produce an instructive caution to avoid drink- 
ing, when it was seen, that even the learning and genius of 

10 Parnell could be debased by it." And in the Hebrides he 
maintained, as appears from my "Journal," that a man's 
intimate friend should mention his faults, if he writes his life. 
He had a violent argument with Dr. Taylor, as to the in- 
clinations of the people of England at this time towards the 

15 Royal Family of Stuart. " If England were fairly polled, the 
present King would be sent away to-night, and his adherents 
hanged to-morrow." Taylor, who was as violent a Whig 
as Johnson was a Tory, was roused by this to a pitch of 
bellowing. 

20 September 18. Last night Dr. Johnson had proposed that 
the crystal lustre, or chandelier, in Dr. Taylor's large room, 
should be lighted up some time or other. Taylor said, it 
should be lighted up next night. "Very well, (said I,) for it is 
Dr. Johnson's birth-day." When we were in the Isle of Sky, 

25 Johnson had desired me not to mention his birth-day. He 
did not seem pleased at this time that I mentioned it, and said 
(somewhat sternly,) "he would not have the lustre lighted the 
next day." 

Some ladies, who had been present yesterday when I men- 

30 tioned his birth-day, came to dinner to-day, and plagued him 
unintentionallly, by wishing him joy. 

"Thomas Warton puts," said he, "a very common thing 
in a strange dress till he does not know it himself, and 
thinks other people do not know it. For example ; he'd write 

35 thus : 

1 Hermit hoar, in solemn cell, 

Wearing out life's evening gray.' 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 187 

Gray evening is common enough ; but evening gray he'd think 
fine. — Stay ; — we'll make out the stanza : 

' Hermit hoar, in solemn cell, 

Wearing out life's evening gray : 
Smite thy bosom, sage, and tell, 5 

What is bliss ? and which the way ? ' " 

Boswell. "But why smite his bosom, Sir?" Johnson. 
"Why to shew he was in earnest " (smiling). — He at an after 
period added the following stanza : 

" Thus I spoke ; and speaking sigh'd ; , 10 

— Scarce repress' d the starting tear ; — 
When the smiling sage reply' d 

— Come, my lad, and drink some beer." 

Dr. Johnson and I set out in Dr. Taylor's chaise to go to 
Derby. The day was fine, and we resolved to go by Keddles- 15 
ton, the seat of Lord Scarsdale. I was struck with the mag- 
nificence of the building ; and the extensive park. " One should 
think (said I,) that the proprietor of all this must be happy." 
— "Nay, Sir, (said Johnson,) all this excludes but one evil — 
poverty." 20 

A well-drest elderly housekeeper shewed us the house. 
Dr. Johnson had lately attacked it violently, saying, "It 
would do excellently for a town-hall. The large room with 
the pillars (said he,) would do for the Judges to sit in at the 
assizes ; the circular room for a jury-chamber ; and the room 25 
above for prisoners." Dr. Taylor put him in mind of his ap- 
pearing pleased with the house. "But (said he,) that was 
when Lord Scarsdale was present. Politeness obliges us to 
appear pleased with a man's works when he is present. Xo 
man will be so ill bred as to question you. You may there- 30 
fore pay compliments without saying what is not true. I 
should say to Lord Scarsdale of his large room, 'My Lord, 
this is the most costly room that I ever saw;' which is true." 

I was much struck with Daniel interpreting Nebuchad- 
nezzar's dream, by Rembrandt. — We were shown a pretty 35 
large library. In his Lordship's dressing-room lay Johnson's 



188 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

small Dictionary : he shewed it to me, with some eagerness, 
saying, "Look'ye! Quce regio in terris nostri non plena 
laboris." He observed, also, Goldsmith's " Animated Nature ; " 
and said, " Here's our friend ! The poor Doctor would have 
5 been happy to hear of this." 

In our way, Johnson strongly expressed his love of driving 
fast in a post-chaise. "If (said he,) I had no duties, and no 
reference to futurity, I would spend my life in driving briskly 
in a post-chaise w T ith a pretty woman ; but she should be one 

10 who could understand me, and would add something to the 
conversation." I observed, that we were this day to stop just 
where the Highland army did in 1745. Johnson. "It was a 
noble attempt." Boswell. "I wish we could have an authen- 
tick history of it." Johnson. "If you were not an idle dog 

15 you might write it, by collecting from every body what they 
can tell, and putting down your authorities." 

At Derby, Dr. Butter accompanied us to see the manufac- 
tory of china there. The china was beautiful, but Dr. John- 
son justly observed it was too dear ; for that he could have 

20 vessels of silver, of the same size, as cheap as wmat were here 
made of porcelain. 

Talking of shaving the other night at Dr. Taylor's, Dr. 
Johnson said, "Sir, of a thousand shavers, two do not shave 
so much alike as not to be distinguished." I thought this 

25 not possible, till he specified so many of the varieties in shav- 
ing ; — holding the razor more or less perpendicular ; — draw- 
ing long or short strokes ; — beginning at the upper part of 
the face, or the under — at the right side or the left side. 
Johnson, speaking of Dodd. "Depend upon it, Sir, when 

30 a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates 
his mind wonderfully. ? " 

I ventured to mention a person who was as violent a Scotch- 
man as he was an Englishman. He would say of Dr. Johnson, 
"Damned rascal! to talk as he does of the Scotch." This 

35 seemed, for a moment, "to give him pause." 

He was much diverted with an article in the " Critical Re- 
view," giving an account of "A spiritual Diary and Solilo- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 189 

quies, by John Rutty, M.D.," one of the people called Quakers. 

The following specimens were extracted by the Reviewers : 

" Tenth month, 1753. 

"23. Indulgence in bed an hour too long. 

"Twelfth month, 17. An hypochondriack obnubilation 5 
from wind and indigestion. 

"Ninth month, 28. An over-dose of whisky. 

"29. A dull, cross, cholerick day. 

"First month, 1757 — 22. A little swinish at dinner and 
repast. 10 

"31. Dogged on provocation. 

"Second month, 5. Very dogged or snappish. 

"14. Snappish on fasting. 

"26. Cursed snappishness to those under me, on a bodily 
indisposition. 15 

"Third month, 11. On a provocation, exercised a dumb 
resentment for two days, instead of scolding. 

"22. Scolding too vehemently. 

"23. Dogged again. * 

"Fourth month, 29. Mechanically and sinfully dogged." 20 

Johnson laughed heartily at this good Quietist's serf-con- 
demning minutes. 

Dr. Hugh Blair had animadverted on the Johnsonian 
style as too pompous ; and attempted to imitate it, by giving 
a sentence of Addison in "The Spectator," No. 411, in the 25 
manner of Johnson. "Their very first step out of business 
is into vice or folly;" Dr. Blair supposed would have been 
expressed in "The Rambler" thus : "Their very first step out 
of the regions of business is into the perturbation of vice, or the 
vacuity of folly." Johnson. "Sir, these are not the words 30 
I should have used. No, Sir ; the imitators of my style have 
not hit it. Miss Aikin has done it the best ; for she has imi- 
tated the sentiment as well as the diction." 

InBaretti's " Frusta Letteraria," it is observed, that Dr. 
Robertson, the historian, had formed his style upon that of 35 
"II celebre Samuele Johnson" My friend himself was of 
that opinion. "Sir, if Robertson's style be faulty, he owes it 



190 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

to me; that is, having too many words, and those too big 
ones." 

Lord Monboddo had written to me some critical remarks 
upon the style of his " Journey to the Western Islands of 
5 Scotland." His Lordship praised the very fine passage upon 
landing at Icolmkill : ° but disapproved of the richness of John- 
son's language, and of his frequent use of metaphorical 
expressions. Johnson. "Why, Sir, this criticism would be 
just, if, in my style, superfluous words, or w T ords too big 

10 for the thoughts, could be pointed out ; but this I do not be- 
lieve can be done." 

Johnson. " Employment, Sir, and hardships, prevent 
melancholy. I suppose in all our army in America, there 
was not one man who went mad." 

15 Johnson. ' l Why, Sir, I never knew any one who had such a 
gust for London as you have : and I cannot blame you for your 
wish to live there: yet, Sir, were I in your father's place, 
I should not consent to your settling there ; for I have the 
old feudal notions, and I should be afraid that Auchinleck 

20 would be deserted, as you w T ould soon find it more desirable to 
have a country-seat in a better climate. I own, however, 
that to consider it as a duty to reside on a family estate is a 
prejudice. The Laird of Auchinleck now is not near so great a 
man as the Laird of Auchinleck was a hundred years ago." 

2b I told him, that one of my ancestors never went from home 
without being attended by thirty men on horseback. John- 
son's shrewdness and spirit of enquiry w T as exerted upon every 
occasion. "Pray (said he,) how did } 7 'our ancestor support 
his thirty men and thirty horses when he went at a distance 

30 from home, in an age when there was hardly any money in 
circulation ? " I suggested the same difficulty to a friend who 
mentioned Douglas's going to the Holy Land with a numerous 
train of followers. 

Johnson. "Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, 

35 who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is 
tired of London, he is tired of life ; for there is in London all 
that life can afford." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 191 

He said, a country gentleman should bring his lady to 
visit London as soon as he can, that they may have agreeable 
topicks for conversation when they are by themselves. 

I mentioned to him a saying which somebody had related 
of an American savage, who, when an European was expatiat- 5 
ing on all the advantages of money, put this question : "Will 
it purchase occupation f " Johnson. "Depend upon it, Sir, 
this saying is too refined for a savage. And, Sir, money 
will purchase occupation ; it will purchase all the conveniences 
of life ; it will purchase variety of company ; it will purchase 10 
all sorts of entertainment." 

Johnson and Taylor were so different from each other, 
that I wondered at their preserving an intimacy. Their 
having been at school and college together, might, in some de- 
gree, account for this ; but Sir Joshua Reynolds has furnished 15 
me with a stronger reason; for Johnson mentioned to him, 
that he had been told by Taylor he was to be his heir. He 
now, however, said to me, "Sir, I love him ; but I do not love 
him more ; my regard for him does not increase. As it is said 
in the Apocrypha, 'his talk is of bullocks.' ° I do not suppose 20 
he is very fond of my company. His habits are by no means 
sufficiently clerical : this he knows that. I see ; and no man 
likes to live under the eye of perpetual disapprobation." 
I have no doubt that a good many sermons were composed 
for Taylor by Johnson. I found, upon his table, a part of 25 
one : and Concio pro Tayloro appears in one of his diaries. 

Johnson. "Getting money is not all a man's business: 
to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of fife." 

I found from experience, that to collect my friend's conver- 
sation so as to exhibit it with any degree of its original flavour, 30 
it was necessary to write it down without delay. To record 
his sayings, after some distance of time, was like preserving 
or pickling long-kept and faded fruits, or other vegetables, 
which, when in that state, have little or nothing of their 
taste when fresh. 35 

Johnson. "Colley Cibber once consulted me as to one of 
his birth-day Odes, a long time before it was wanted. I ob- < 



192 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

jected very freely to several passages. Gibber lost patience, 
and would not read his Ode to an end. When we had done 
with criticism, we walked over to Richardson's, the authour 
of 'Clarissa/ and I wondered to find Richardson displeased 
5 that I 'did not treat Gibber with more respect.' Now, Sir, 
to talk of respect for a player!" (smiling disdainfully). 
Boswell. " There, Sir, you are always heretical : you never 
will allow merit to a player." Johnson. " Merit, Sir, what 
merit ? Do you respect a rope-dancer, or a ballad-singer? a 

10 fellow who claps a hump on his back, and a lump on his leg, 
and cries, 'I am Richard the Third'? Nay, Sir, a ballad- 
singer is a higher man ; there is both recitation and musick in 
his performance : the player only recites." Boswell. "Who 
can repeat Hamlet's soliloquy, 'To be, or not to be,' as Garrick 

15 does it?" Johnson. "Any body may. Jemmy, there 
(a boy about eight years old, who was in the room) will do it 
as well in a week." Boswell. " Garrick has got a hundred 
thousand pounds." Johnson. "Is getting a hundred thou- 
sand pounds a proof of excellence ? That has been done by 

20 a scoundrel commissary." This was most fallacious reason- 
ing. I was sure, for once, that I had the best side of the 
argument. 

I unguardedly said, "I wish I saw you and Mrs. Macaulay 
together." He grew very angry; and, after a pause, while a 

25 cloud gathered on his brow, he burst out, "No, Sir; you 
would not see us quarrel, to make you sport. Don't you 
know that it is very uncivil to pit two people against one 
another?" Then, checking himself, and wishing to be more 
gentle, he added, "I do not say you should be hanged or 

30 drowned for this ; but it is very uncivil. I would sooner 
keep company with a man from whom I must guard my 
pockets, than with a man who contrives to bring me into a dis- 
pute with somebody that he may hear it. Whatever the 
motive be, Sir, the man who does so, does very wrong. He 

35 has no more right to instruct himself at such risk, than he 
has to make two people fight a duel, that he may learn how 
to defend himself." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 193 

He found great fault with a gentleman for keeping a bad 
table. "Sir, (said he,) when a man is invited to dinner, 
he is disappointed if he does not get something good. I 
advised Mrs. Thrale, who has no card-parties at her house, 
to give sweet-meats, and such good things, in an evening, as 5 
are not commonly given, and she would find company enough 
come to her ; for every body loves to have things which please 
the palate put in their way, without trouble or preparation." 

Mr. Burke's " Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the affairs 
of America," being mentioned, Johnson ridiculed the defini- 10 
tion of a free government, viz. "For any practical purpose, it 
is what the people think so." — "I will let the King of France 
govern me on those conditions, (said he,) for it is to be 
governed just as I please." And when Dr. Taylor talked of a 
girl being sent to a parish workhouse, and asked how much 15 
she could be obliged to work, "Why, (said Johnson,) as much 
as is reasonable : and what is that ? as much as she thinks 
reasonable." 

He repeated his observation, that the differences among 
Christians are really of no consequence. I said, the great 20 
article of Christianity is the revelation of immortality. 
Johnson admitted it was. 

A gentleman-farmer attempted to dispute with Johnson 
in favour of Mungo Campbell, who shot Alexander, Earl of 
Eglintoune, who he believed was about to seize his gun, as 25 
he had threatened to do. He said he should have done just 
as Campbell did. Johnson. "Whoever would do as Camp- 
bell did, deserves to be hanged." The gentleman-farmer said, 
"A poor man has as much honour as a rich man ; and Camp- 
bell had that to defend." Johnson exclaimed, "A poor man 30 
has no honour." The English yeoman, not dismayed, pro- 
ceeded : "Lord Eglintoune was a damned fool to run on upon 
Campbell, after being warned that Campbell would shoot 
him if he did." Johnson, who could not bear any tiling 
like swearing, angrily replied, "He was not a damned fool : 35 
he only thought too well of Campbell. He did not believe 
Campbell would be such a damned scoundrel, as to do so 



194 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

damned a thing." His emphasis on damned, accompanied 
with frowning looks, reproved his opponent's want of decorum 
in his presence. 

Of being mortified by rejection, when making approaches 

5 to the acquaintance of the great, he said, "I have 

always been more afraid of failing, than hopeful of success." 

And, indeed, no man ever less courted the favour of the great. 

Tajdor, " whose geese were all swans," as the proverb says, 

expatiated on the excellence of his bull-dog, which he told us, 

10 was " perfectly well shaped." Johnson, after examining the 
animal attentively, thus repressed the vain-glory of our 
host : — "No, Sir, he is not well shaped; for there is not the 
quick transition from the thickness of the fore-part, to the 
tenuity — the thin part — behind, — ■ which a bull-dog ought 

15 to have." This tenuity was the only hard word that I heard 
him use during this interview, and it will be observed, he 
instantly put another expression in its place. Taylor said, 
a small bull-clog was as good as a large one. Johnson. "No, 
Sir ; for, in proportion to his size, he has strength : and your 

20 argument would prove that a good bull-dog may be as small 
as a mouse." 

One morning after breakfast, when the sun shone bright, we 
walked out together, and "pored" for some time with placid 
indolence upon an artificial water-fail, which Dr. Taylor had 

25 made by building a strong dyke of stone across the river 
behind the garden. It was now somewhat obstructed by 
branches of trees and other rubbish. Johnson, partly from a 
desire to see it play more freely, and partly from that inclina- 
tion to activity which will animate, at times, the most inert 

30 and sluggish mortal, took a long pole which was lying on a 
bank, and pushed down several parcels of this wreck with 
painful assiduity, while I stood quietly by, wondering to 
behold the sage thus curiously employed. He worked till 
he was quite out of breath ; and having found a large dead 

35 cat so heavy that he could not move it after several efforts, 
"Come," said he (tin-owing down the pole,) "you shall take 
it now." This may be laughed at as too trifling to record; 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 195 

but it is a small characteristic trait in the Flemish picture 
which I give of my friend, and in which, therefore, I mark the 
most minute particulars. And let it be remembered, that 
"iEsop at play" is one of the instructive apologues of 
antiquity. 5 

Johnson. " There must be a diseased mind, where there 
is a failure of memory at seventy. A man's head, Sir^ must 
be morbid, if he fails so soon." My friend, being now him- 
self sixty-eight, might think thus. 

Wishing to be satisfied what truth there was in a story 10 
told me to his disadvantage, I mentioned it to him in direct 
terms ; to this effect : that a gentleman who had lived in 
great intimacy with him, shewn him much kindness, and 
even relieved him from a spunging-house, having afterwards 
fallen into bad circumstances, was one day, when Johnson 15 
was at dinner with him, seized for debt, and carried to prison ; 
that Johnson sat still undisturbed, and went on eating and 
drinking ; upon which the gentleman's sister, who was present, 
could not suppress her indignation: "What, Sir, (said she,) 
are you so unfeeling, as not even to offer to go to my brother 20 
in his distress ; you who have been so much obliged to him ? " 
And that Johnson answered, "Madam, I owe him no obliga- 
tion ; what he did for me he would have done for a dog." 

Johnson assured me, that the story was absolutely false : 
"Sir, I was very intimate with that gentleman, and was once 25 
relieved by him from an arrest ; but I never was present when 
he was arrested, never knew that he was arrested, and I 
believe he never was in difficulties after the time when he 
relieved me. I loved him much ; yet, in talking of his gen- 
eral character, I may have said, though I do not remember 30 
that I ever did say so ; that as his generosity proceeded from 
no principle, but was a part of his profusion, he would do for 
a dog what he would do for a friend : but I never applied this 
remark to any particular instance, and certainly not to his 
kindness to me. Sir, I would have gone to the world's end to 35 
relieve him. The remark about the dog, if made by me, was 
such a sally as might escape one when painting a man highly." 



196 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

He found fault with me for using the phrase to make money. 
" Don't you see the impropriety of it? To make money is 
to coin it : you should say get money. " The phrase, however, 
is, I think, pretty current. But Johnson was at all times jeal- 
5 ous of infractions upon the genuine English language, and 
prompt to repress colloquial barbarisms; such as pledging 
myself, for undertaking; line, for department, or branch, as, 
the civil line, the banking line. He was particularly indignant 
against the almost universal use of the word idea, in the sense 

10 of notion, or opinion, when it is clear that idea can only 
signify something of which an image can be formed in the 
mind. We may have an idea or image of a mountain, a tree, 
a building; but we cannot surely have an idea or image of 
an argument or proposition. Yet we hear the first speakers in 

15 parliament u reprobating an Idea unconstitutional, and fraught 
with the most dangerous consequences to a great and free 
country." Johnson called this " modern cant." 

He pronounced the word heard, as if spelt with a double e, 
heerd. He said that if it were pronounced herd, there would 

20 be a single exception from the English pronunciation of the 
syllable ear. 

In the evening our gentleman-farmer, and two others, 
entertained themselves and the company with a great number 
of tunes on the fiddle. Johnson desired to have "Let ambi- 

25 tion fire thy mind," played over again, and appeared to give 
a patient attention to it ; though he owned that he was very 
insensible to the power of musick. I told him that it affected 
me to such a degree, as often to agitate my nerves painfully, 
producing in my mind alternate sensations of pathetic de- 

30 jection, so that I was ready to shed tears ; and of daring reso- 
lution, so that I was inclined to rush into the thickest part of 
the battle. "Sir (said he,) I should never hear it, if it made 
me such a fool." 

While some of- the tunes of ordinary composition were 

35 played with no great skill, I was conscious of a generous at- 
tachment to Dr. Johnson, as my preceptor and friend, mixed 
with an affectionate regret that he was an old man, whom I 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 197 

should probably lose in a short time. I thought I could de- 
fend him at the point of my sword. I said, "My dear Sir, 
we must meet every year, if you don't quarrel with me." 
Johnson. "Nay, Sir, you are more likely to quarrel with me, 
than I with you. My regard for you is greater almost than 5 
I have words to express ; but I do not chuse to be always 
repeating it ; write it down in the first leaf of your pocket- 
book, and never doubt of it again." 

I talked to him of misery being "the doom of man," in this 
life, as displayed in his "Vanity of Human Wishes." Yet 1 10 
observed that things were done upon the supposition of hap- 
piness ; grand houses were built, fine gardens were made, 
splendid places of publick amusement were contrived^ and 
crowded with company. Johnson. "Alas, Sir, these are 
all only struggles for happiness. When I first entered Rane- 15 
lagh, it gave an expansion and gay sensation to my 
mind, such as I never experienced anywhere else. But, 
as Xerxes wept when he viewed his immense army, and con- 
sidered that not one of that great multitude would be alive 
a hundred years afterwards, so it went to my heart to con- 20 
" sider that there was not one in all that brilliant circle, that 
was not afraid to go home and think." 

While Johnson and I stood in calm conference by ourselves 
in Dr. Taylor's garden, at a pretty late hour in a serene au- 
tumn night, looking up to the heavens, I directed the discourse 25 
to the subject of a future state. My friend was in a placid 
and most benignant frame of mind. "Sir, (said he,) I do not 
imagine that all things will be made clear to us immediately 
after death, but that the ways, of Providence will be explained 
to us very gradually." 30 

He had always been very zealous against slavery in every 
form. Upon one occasion, when in company with some very 
grave men at Oxford, his toast was, "Here's to the next in- 
surrection of the negroes in the West Indies." His violent 
prejudice against our West Indian and American settlers 35 
appeared whenever there was an opportunity. Towards 
■he conclusion of his " Taxation no Tyranny," he says, "How 



198 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the 
drivers of negroes ? " 

I said, that I was afraid I kept him too late up, "No. 
Sir, (said he,) I don't care though I sit all night with you." 
5 This was an animated speech from a man in his sixty-ninth 
year. 

Had I been as attentive not to displease him as I ought to 
have been, I know not but this vigil might have been fulfilled ; 
but I unluckily entered upon the controversy concerning the 

10 right of Great Britain to tax America, and attempted to argue 
in favour of our fellow-subjects on the other side of the At- 
lantick. I insisted that America might be very well gov- 
erned, and made to yield sufficient revenue by the means of 
influence, as exemplified in Ireland, while the people might 

15 be pleased with the imagination of their participating of the 
British constitution, by having a body of representatives, 
without whose consent money could not be exacted from them. 
Johnson could not bear my thus opposing his avowed opinion, 
which he had exerted himself with an extreme degree of heat 

20 to enforce; and the violent agitation into which he was 
thrown, while reprimanding me, alarmed me so, that I heart- ' 
ily repented of my having unthinkingly introduced the sub- 
ject. 

We were fatigued by the contest ; and he was not then in 

25 the humour to slide into easy and cheerful talk. We were 
after an hour or two very willing to separate and go to bed. 

I went into Dr. Johnson's room before he got up, and finding 
that the storm of the preceding night was quite laid, I sat 
down upon his bed-side, and he talked with as much readiness 

30 and good humour as ever. 

I spoke with gratitude of Dr. Taylor's hospitality. One 
evening, when I was sitting with him, Frank delivered this 
message: "Sir, Dr. Taylor sends his compliments to you, 
and begs you will dine with him to-morrow. He has got a 

35 hare." — "My compliments (said Johnson,) and I'll dine 
with him — hare or rabbit." 

Edensor-inn, close by Chatsworth, was then kept by a very 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 199 

jolly landlord. He happened to mention that "the celebrated 
Dr. Johnson had been in his house." I enquired who this Dr. 
Johnson was, that I might hear my host's notion of him. 
"Sir, (said he,) Johnson, the great writer ; Oddity, as they call 
him. He's the greatest writer in England ; he writes for the 5 
ministry; he has a correspondence abroad, and lets them 
know what's going on." 

To Boswell. 

"You always seem to call for tenderness. Know then, that 
in the first month of the present year I very highly esteem and 10 
very cordially love you. I hope to tell you this at the be- 
ginning of every year as long as we live ; and why should we 
trouble ourselves to tell or hear it oftener? Sam. Johnson." 

Johnson maintained a long and intimate friendship with 
Mr. Welch, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for 15 
Westminster. Johnson, who had an eager and unceasing 
curiosity to know human life in all its variety, attended Mr. 
Welch in his office for a whole winter, to hear the examina- 
tions of the culprits ; but he found an almost uniform tenor 
of misfortune, wretchedness, and profligacy. Mr. Welch's 20 
health being impaired, Johnson, by his interest, procured 
him leave of absence to go to Italy, and a promise that the 
pension or salary of two hundred pounds a year should not 
be discontinued. Mr. Welch accordingly went, accompanied 
by his daughter Anne. 25 

To Saunders Welch, Esq. at the English Coffee- 
house, Rome. 

"You have travelled with this felicity, that your companion 
is not to part from you at your journey's end; but you are 
to live on together, to help each other's recollection, and to 30 
supply each other's omissions. The world has few greater 
pleasures than that which two friends enjoy, in tracing back, 
at some distant time, those transactions and events through 
which they have passed together. One of the old man's 



200 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



miseries is, that he cannot easily find a companion able to 
partake with him of the past. 

"Miss Nancy has doubtless kept a constant and copious 
j ournal. She must not expect to be welcome when she returns, 
5 without a great mass of information. If it were not now too 
late, I would advise her to note the impression which the first 
sight of anything new and wonderful made upon her mind. 
Sam. Johnson. " 

Boswell to De. Johnson. 

10 "What do you say to ' Taxation no Tyranny, 1 now, after 
Lord North's declaration or confession, or whatever else his 
conciliatory speech should be called ? I never differed from 
you in politicks but upon two points, — the Middlesex Elec- 
tion, and the Taxation of the Americans by the British Houses 

15 of Representatives. There is a charm in the word Parliament, 
so I avoid it. As I am a steady and a warm Tory, I regret 
that the King does not see it to be better for him to receive 
constitutional supplies from his American subjects by the 
voice of their own assemblies, where his Ro3^al Person is 

20 represented, than through the medium of his British sub- 
jects. " 

"If (said he,) a man has splendour from his expence, if he 
spends his money in pride or in pleasure, he has value : but 
if others spend it for him, which is most commonly the case, 
25 he has no advantage from it." 

I found him sitting with Mrs. Williams. The room for- 
merly allotted to me was now appropriated to a charitable 
purpose; Mrs. Desmoulins, her daughter, and a Miss Car- 
michael being all lodged in it. Such was his humanity, and 
30 such his generosity, that Mrs. Desmoulins herself told me, 
he allowed her half-a-guinea a week. Let it be remembered, 
that this was above a twelfth part of his pension. 

His liberality, indeed, was at all periods of his life very re- 
markable. Mr. Howard, of Lichfield, at whose father's house 
35 Johnson had in his early years been kindly received, told me, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 201 

that when he was a boy at the Charter-house, his father wrote 
to him to go and pay a visit to Mr. Samuel Johnson, which he 
accordingly did, and found him in an upper room, of poor 
appearance. Johnson received him with much courteous- 
ness, and talked a great deal to him, as to a school-boy, of the 5 
course of his education, and other particulars. He added, that 
when he was going away, Mr. Johnson presented him with 
half-a-guinea ; and this, said Mr. Howard, was at a time when 
he probably had not another. 

Tom Da vies joined us. After he went away, Johnson 10 
blamed his folly in quitting the stage, by which he and his 
wife got five hundred pounds a year. I said, I believed it was 
owing to Chur chill's attack upon him, 

" He mouths a sentence, as curs mouth a bone." 

Johnson. "I believe so, too, Sir. But what a man is he, 15 
who is to be driven from the stage by a line ? Another line 
would have driven him from his shop." 

Mr. Wilkes pleasantly said, "What! does he talk of lib- 
erty? Liberty is as ridiculous in his mouth as Religion in 
rnine.^ Mr. Wilkes's advice as to the best mode of speaking 20 
at the bar of the House of Commons, was not more respectful 
towards the senate, than that of Dr. Johnson. "Be as im- 
pudent as you can, as merry as you can, and say whatever 
comes uppermost. Jack Lee is the best heard there of any 
Counsel ; and he is the most impudent dog, and always abus- 25 
ing us." 

Mrs. Thrale made a very characteristical remark: — "I 
do not know what will please Dr. Johnson : but I know that 
it will displease him to praise any thing, even what he likes, 
extravagantly." 30 

I repeated a ridiculous story told me by an old man, a pas- 
senger with me in the stage-coach. Mrs. Thrale called it 
"The story told you by the old woman." — "Now, Madam, 
(said I,) give me leave to catch you in the fact : it was not an 
old woman, but an old man, whom I mentioned as having 35 
told me this." I presumed to take an opportunity, in pre- 



202 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

sence of Johnson, of shewing this lively lady how reacfy she 
was, unintentionally, to deviate from exact authenticity of 
narration. 

Thomas a Kempis (he observed,) must be a good book, as 
5 the world has opened its arms to receive it. It is said to 
have been printed, in one language or other, as many times as 
there have been months since it first came out.° I always was 
struck by this sentence: "Be not angry that you cannot 
make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make 

10 yourself as you wish to be." 

Johnson. "A man loves to review his own mind. That 
is the use of a diary, or journal." Lord Treulestown. 
"True, Sir. As the ladies love to see themselves in a glass; 
so a man likes to see himself in his journal." Bos well. 

15 "And as a lady adjusts her dress before a mirrour, a man 
adjusts his character by looking at his journal." 

"Accustom your children (said he,) constantly to this; if 
a thing happened at one window, and they, when relating it, 
say that it happened at another, instantly check them ; you 

20 do not know where deviation from truth will end." Our 
lively hostess, whose fancy was impatient of the rein, fidgeted 
at this, and ventured to say, "Nay, this is too much. If 
Mr. Johnson should forbid me to drink tea, I would comph r , 
as I should feel the restraint only twice a day ; but little varia- 

25 tions in narrative must happen a thousand times a day, 
if one is not perpetually watching." Johnson. "Well, 
Madam, and you ought to be perpetually watching. It is 
more from carelessness about truth than from intentional 
lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world." 

30 He inculcated upon all his friends the importance of per- 
petual vigilance against the slightest degrees of falsehood ; the 
effect of which, as Sir Joshua Reynolds observed to me, has 
been, that all who were of his school are distinguished for a 
love of truth and accuracy, which they would not have pos- 

35 sessed in the same degree, if they had not been acquainted 
with Johnson. 

He said, "John Wesley's conversation is good, but he is 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 203 

never at leisure. He is always obliged to go at a certain hour. 
This is very disagreeable to a man who loves to fold his legs 
and have out his talk, as I do." 

F.° "I have been looking at this famous antique marble 
dog of Mr. Jennings, valued at a thousand guineas, said to be 5 
Alcibiades's dog." Johnson. "His tail then must be 
docked. That was the mark of Alcibiades's dog." E. 
"A thousand guineas! The representation of no animal 
whatever is worth so much. At this rate a dead dog would 
indeed be better than a living lion." Johnson. "Sir, it is 10 
not the worth of the thing, but of the skill in forming it which 
is so highly estimated. Every thing that enlarges the sphere 
of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought 
he could not do, is valuable. The first man who balanced a 
straw upon his nose ; Johnson who rode upon three horses at 15 
a time ; in short, all such men deserved the applause of man- 
kind, not on account of the use of what they did, but of the 
dexterity which they exhibited." Boswell. "Yet a mis- 
application of time and assiduity is not to be encouraged. 
Addison, in one of his 'Spectators/ commends the judgement 20 
of a King, who as a suitable reward to a man that by long 
perseverance had attained to the art of throwing a barley- 
corn through the eye of a needle, gave him a bushel of barley." 
Johnson. "He must have been a King of Scotland, where 
barley is scarce." 25 

C. "It is remarkable that the most unhealthy countries, 
where there are the most destructive diseases, such as Egypt 
and Bengal, are the most populous." Johnson. "Coun- 
tries which are the most populous have the most destructive 
diseases. That is the true state of the proposition. Dis-30 
1 ease cannot be the cause of populousness, for it not only 
carries off a great proportion of the people ; but those who are 
left are weakened, and unfit for the purposes of increase." 

R. "Mr. E., I don't mean to flatter, but when posterity 
reads one of your speeches in Parliament, it will be difficult 35 
to believe that you took so much pains, knowing with certainty 
that it could produce no effect, that not one vote would be 



204 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

gained by it." E. " Waiving your compliment to me, I shall 
say in general, that it is very well worth while for a man to 
take pains to speak well in Parliament. A man, who has van- 
ity, speaks to display his talents ; and if a man speaks well, 
5 he gradually establishes a certain reputation and consequence 
in the general opinion, which sooner or later will have its 
political reward. Besides, though not one vote is gained, a 
good speech has its effect. Though an act which has been 
ably opposed passes into a law, yet in its progress it is mod- 

10 elled, it is softened in such a manner, that we see plainly the 
Minister has been told, that the members attached to him are 
so sensible of its injustice or absurdity from what they have 
heard, that it must be altered." Johnson. " And, Sir, there 
is a gratification of pride. Though we cannot out-vote them 

15 we will out-argue them. They shall not do wrong without 
its being shown both to themselves and to the world." E. 
"I believe in any body of men in England I should have been 
in the Minority ; I have always been in the Minority." P. 
' { The House of Commons resembles a private company. How 

20 seldom is any man convinced by another's argument; pas- 
sion and pride rise against it." 

Johnson. " English and High Dutch have no similarity 
to the eye, though radically the same. Once when looking 
into Low Dutch, I found, in a whole page, only one word 

25 similar to English; stroem, like stream, and it signified tide. 11 
E. "I remember having seen a Dutch Sonnet, in which I 
found this word, roesnopies : roes, rose, and nopie, knob ; 
rosebuds." 

E. "From experience I have learnt to think better of 

30 mankind." Johnson. "From my experience I have found 
them worse in commercial dealings, more disposed to cheat, 
than I had any notion of ; but more disposed to do one an- 
other good than I had conceived." J. "Less just and more 
beneficent." Johnson. "And really it is wonderful, con- 

35 sidering how much attention is necessary for men to take care 
of themselves, and ward off immediate evils which press upon 
them, it is wonderful how much they do for others. As it is 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 205 

said of the greatest liar, that he tells more truth than false- 
hood ; so it may be said of the worst man, that he does more 
good than evil." P. " There is a very good story told of Sir 
Godfrey Kneller, in his character of a justice of the peace. A 
gentleman brought his servant before ninr, upon an accusation 5 
of having stolen some money from him ; but it having come 
out that he had laid it purposely in the servant's way, in order 
to try his honesty, Sir Godfrey sent the master to prison." 
Johnson. "To resist temptation once, is not a sufficient 
proof of honesty. If a servant, indeed, were to resist the 10 
continued temptation of silver lying in a window, as some 
people let it lye, when he is sure his master does not know how 
much there is of it, he would give a strong proof of honesty. 
But this is a proof to which you have no right to put a man." 
Boswell. "I have known a man resolve to put friendship 15 
to the test, by asking a man to lend him money, merely with 
that view, when he did not want it." Johnson. "That is 
very wrong, Sir. Your friend may be a narrow man, and yet 
have many good qualities : narrowness may be his only fault. 
Now you are trying his general character as a friend, by one 20 
particular singly, in which he happens to be defective, when, 
in truth, his character is composed of many particulars." 

E. "I understand the hogshead of claret, which this so- 
ciety was favoured with by our friend the Dean, is nearly out ; 
I think he should be written to, to send another of the same 25 
kind. Let the request be made with a happy ambiguity of 
expression, so that we may have the chance of his sending it 
also as a present." Johnson. "I am willing to offer my 
services as secretary on this occasion." P. "As many as are 
for Dr. Johnson being secretary hold up your hands. — Car- 30 
ried unanimously." Boswell. "He will be our Dictator." 
Johnson. " No, the company is to dictate to me. I am only 
to write for wine ; and I am quite disinterested, as I drink 
none ; I shall not be suspected of having forged the applica- 
tion. I am no more than humble scribe." E. "Then you 35 
shall prescribe." Boswell. "Very well. The first play 
of words to-day." J. "No, no; the bulls in Ireland." 



206 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Johnson. "Were I your Dictator, you should have no wine. 
It would be my business cavere ne quid detrimenti Respublica 
caperetj and wine is dangerous. Rome was ruined by luxury " 
(smiling). E. " If you allow no wine as Dictator, you shall 
5 not have me for your master of horse." 

I drank tea with Johnson at Dr. Taylor's, where he had 
dined. He was very silent this evening; and read in a 
variety of books : suddenly throwing down one, and taking 
up another. 

10 He talked of going to Streatham that night. Taylor. 
"You'll be robbed, if you do : or you must shoot a highway- 
man." Johnson. "But I would rather shoot him in the 
instant when he is attempting to rob me, than afterwards 
swear against him at the Old Bailey, to take away his life, 

15 after he has robbed me. I am surer I am right in the one 
case, than in the other. I may be mistaken as to the man 
when I swear : I cannot be mistaken, if I shoot him in the act. 
Besides, we feel less reluctance to take away a man's life 
when we are heated by the injury, than to do it at a distance 

20 of time by an oath, after we have cooled." Boswell. "So, 
Sir, you would rather act from the motive of private passion, 
than that of publick advantage." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, 
when I shoot the highwayman, I act from both." Boswell. 
"Very well, very well. — There is no catching him." John- 

25 son. "At the same time, one does not know what to say. 
For perhaps one may, a year after, hang himself from uneasi- 
ness for having shot a highwayman. Few minds are fit to be 
trusted with so great a thing." Boswell. "Then, Sir, you 
would not shoot him?" Johnson. "But I might be vexed 

30 afterwards for that too." 

I had said, that in his company we did not so much inter- 
change conversation, as listen to him; and that Dunning 
observed upon this, "One is always willing to listen to Dr. 
Johnson;" to which I answered, "That is a great deal from 

35 you, Sir." — "Yes, Sir, (said Johnson,) a great deal indeed. 
Here is a man willing to listen, to whom the world is listening 
all the rest of the year." Boswell. "I think, Sir, it is right 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 207 

to tell one man of such a handsome thing, which has been 
said of him by another." Johnson. "Undoubtedly it is 
right, Sir." 

Johnson. " Sir ; it must be born with a man to be con- 
tented to take up with little things. Women have a great 5 
advantage that they may take up with little things, without 
disgracing themselves : a man cannot, except with fiddling. 
Had I learnt to fiddle, I should have done nothing else." 
Boswell. "Pray, Sir, did you ever play on any musical 
instrument?" Johnson. "Xo, Sir. I once bought me a 10 
nagelet; but I never made out a tune." Boswell. "A 
nagelet, Sir ! — so small an instrument ? I should have liked 
to hear you play on the violoncello. That should have been 
your instrument." Johnson. "Sir, I might as well have 
pla}^ed on the violoncello as another ; but I should have done 15 
nothing else. No, Sir; a man would never undertake great 
things, could he be amused with small. I once tried knotting. 
Dempster's sister undertook to teach me; but I could not 
learn it." Boswell. "So, Sir ; it will be related in pompous 
narrative, ' Once for his amusement he tried knotting ; nor 20 
did this Hercules disdain the distaff. ' " Johnson. "Knitting 
of stockings is a good amusement. As a freeman of Aber- 
deen ° I should be a knitter of sto clangs." 

I told him, that I had been present the day before, when 
Mrs. Montague, the literary lady, sat to Miss Re}uiolds for her 25 
picture; and that she said, "she had bound up Mr. Gibbon's 
History, as it gave, in an elegant manner, the substance of the 
bad writers medii cevi, which the late Lord Lyttleton advised 
her to read." Johnson. "Sir, she has not read them: she 
shews none of this impetuosity to me : she does not know 30 
Greek, and, I fancy, knows little Latin. She is willing you 
should think she knows them ; but she does not say she does." 
Boswell. "Mr. Harris, who was present, agreed with her." 
Johnson. "Harris was laughing at her, Sir. Harris is a 
sound sullen scholar ; he does not like interlopers. Harris, 35 
however, is a prig, and a bad prig." 

Johnson. " Sometimes things may be made darker by defi- 



208 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

nition. I see a cow. I define her, Animal quadrupes rumi- 
nans cornutum. But a goat ruminates, and a cow may have 
no horns. Co w is plainer/ 7 Boswell. "I think Dr. Frank- 
lin's definition of Man a good one — 'A tool-making 
5 animal.'" Johnson. "But many a man never made a 
tool : and suppose a man without arms, he could not make 
a tool." 

Johnson. " Now what a wretch must he be, who is con- 
tent with such conversation as can be had among savages ! 

10 You may remember an officer at Fort Augustus, who had 
served in America, ^old us of a woman whom they were 
obliged to bind, in order to get her back from savage fife." 
Boswell. "She must have been an animal, a beast." 
Johnson. "Sir, she was a speaking cat." 

15 Of Goldsmith, he said, "He was not an agreeable compan- 
ion, for he talked always for fame. A man who does so, never 
can be pleasing. The man who talks to unburthen his mind, 
is the man to delight you." 

Soon after our arrival at Thrale's, I heard one of the maids 

20 calling eagerly on another, to go to Dr. Johnson. I wondered 
what this could mean. I afterwards learnt, that it was to give 
her a Bible, which he had brought from London as a present. 
He was for a considerable time occupied in reading u Me- 
moir es de Fontenelle" leaning and swinging upon the low gate 

25 into the court, without his hat. 

Sir John Pringle had expressed a wish that I would ask Dr. 
Johnson's opinion what were the best English sermons for 
style. Atterbury? Johnson. "Yes, Sir, one of the best." 
Boswell. "Tillotson?" Johnson. "Why, not now. I 

30 should not advise a preacher at this day to imitate Tillotson's 
style." 

Mrs. Thrale expressed a wish to see Scotland. Johnson. 
" Seeing Scotland, Madam, is only seeing a worse England. 
It is seeing the flower gradually fade away to the naked stalk. 

35 Seeing the Hebrides, indeed, is seeing quite a different scene." 

Our poor friend, Mr. Thomas Da vies, was soon to have a 

benefit at Drury-lane theatre. I proposed that he should be 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 209 

brought on to speak a Prologue upon the occasion ; as, that 
when now grown old, he was obliged to cry, "Poor Tom's 
&-cold;" — that he had been driven from the stage by a 
Churchill was no disgrace, for a Churchill had beat the French ; 
— that he had been satyrised as "mouthing a sentence as curs 5 
mouth a bone," but he was now glad of a bone to pick. — 
"Nay, (said Johnson,) I would have him to say, 

1 Mad Tom is come to see the world again.' " 

Talking of a man's resolving to deny himself the use of wine, 
from moral and religious considerations, he said, "He must 10 
not doubt about it. When one doubts as to pleasure, we know 
what will be the conclusion. I now no more think of drinking 
wine, than a horse does. The wine upon the table is no more 
for me, than for the dog that is under the table." 

At Sir Joshua Reynolds', Mr. Ramsay entertained us with 15 
his observations upon Horace's villa, which he had ex- 
amined with great care. The Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. 
Johnson, and Mr. Cambridge, joined with Mr. Ramsay, in 
recollecting the various lines in Horace relating to the subject. 

Horace's journey to Brundisium being mentioned, Johnson 20 
observed, that the brook wilich he describes is to be seen now, 
exactly as at that time ; and that he had often wondered how 
it happened, that small brooks, such as this, kept the same 
situation for ages, notwithstanding earthquakes, by which 
even mountains have been changed, and agriculture, which 25 
produces such a variation upon the surface of the earth. 

The Bishop said, it appeared from Horace's writings that 
he was a cheerful contented man. Johnson. "We have no 
reason to believe that, my lord. Are we to think Pope was 
happy, because he says so in his writings? We see in his 30 
writings what he washed the state of his mind to appear. Dr. 
Young, who pined for preferment, talks with contempt of it 
in his writings, and affects to despise every thing that he did 
not despise." Bishop of St. Asaph. "He was like other 
chaplains, looking for vacancies : but that is not peculiar 35 
to the clergy. I remember when I was with the army, after 
p 



210 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



b no 



the battle of Lafeldt, the officers seriously grumbled that 
general was killed." 

Goldsmith being mentioned, Johnson observed, that he 
once complained to him, in ludicrous terms of distress, " When- 
5 ever I write anything, the publick make a point to know 
nothing about it : " but that his " Traveller " brought him into 
high reputation. Langton. " There is not one bad line in 
that poem; not one of Dryden's careless verses." Sir 
Joshua. "I was glad to hear Charles Fox say, it was one of 

10 the finest poems in the English language." Langton. 
"Why were you glad? You surely had no doubt of this be- 
fore.' ' Johnson. ' ' No ; the merit of ' The Traveller ' is so well 
established, that Mr. Fox's praise cannot augment it, nor his 
censure diminish it." Sir Joshua. "But his friends may 

15 suspect they had too great a partiality for him." Johnson. 
"Nay, Sir, the partiality of his friends was always against 
him. It was with difficulty we could give him a hearing. 
Goldsmith had no settled notions upon any subject; so he 
talked always at random. It seemed to be his intention to 

20 blurt out whatever was in his mind, and see what would be- 
come of it. He was angry too, when catched in an absurdity ; 
but it did not prevent him from falling into another the next 
minute. I remember Chamier, after talking with him some 
time, said, l Well, I do believe he wrote this poem himself : 

25 and, let me tell you, that is believing a great deal.' Chamier 
once asked, him, what he meant by slow, the last word in the 
first line of 'The Traveller,' 

'Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,' — 

Did he mean tardiness of locomotion ? Goldsmith, who would 
30 say something without consideration, answered, 'Yes.' I 
was sitting by, and said, 'No, Sir, you do not mean tardiness 
of locomotion; you mean, that sluggishness of mind which 
comes upon a man in solitude.' Chamier believed then that 
I had written the line, as much as if he had seen me write it. 
35 Goldsmith, however, was a man, who, whatever he wrote, 
did it better than any other man could do. He deserved a 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 211 

place in Westminster- Abbey ; and every year he lived, would 
have deserved it better. He had, indeed, been at no pains to 
fill his mind with knowledge. He transplanted it from one 
place to another; and it did not settle in his mind; so he 
could not tell what was in his own books." 5 

Johnson. "No wise man will go to live in the country, 
unless he has something to do which can be better done in the 
country." Boswell. "I fancy, London is the best place 
for society ; though I have heard that the very first society 
of Paris is still beyond any thing that we have here." John- 10 
son. "Sir, I question if in Paris, such a company as is sitting 
round this table could be got together in less than half a year. 
They talk in France of the felicity of men and women living 
together : the truth is, that there the men are not higher than 
the women, they know no more than the women do, and they 15 
are not held down in their conversation by the presence of 
women." Ramsay. "Literature is upon the growth, it is 
in its spring in France : here it is rather passee." Johnson. 
"Literature was in France long before we had it. Paris was 
the second city for the revival of letters. Our literature came 20 
to us through France. Caxton printed only two books, 
Chaucer, and Gower, that were not translations from the 
French ; and Chaucer, we know, took much from the Italians. 
No, Sir, if literature be in its spring in France, it is a second 
spring ; it is after a winter. Yet there is, probably, a great 25 
deal of learning in France, because they have such a number 
of religious establishments ; so many men who have nothing 
else to do but study. I do not know this ; but I take it upon 
the common principles of chance. Where there are many 
shooters, some will hit." 30 

We talked of old age. Johnson (now in his seventieth year) 
said, "It is a man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his 
mind grows torpid in old age." The Bishop asked, if an old 
man does not lose faster than he gets. Johnson. "I think 
not, my Lord, if he exerts himself." One of the company 35 
rashly observed, it was happy for an old man that insensibility 
comes upon him. Johnson: (with a noble elevation and 



212 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

disdain,) "No, Sir, I should never be happy by being less 
rational." Bishof of St. iVsAPH. "Your wish then, Sir, 
is, yr]pd(TKeLv Stoao-Ko/xei/os." ° Johnson. "Yes, my Lord." 
His Lordship mentioned a charitable establishment in Wales, 
5 where people were maintained, and supplied with everything, 
upon the condition of their contributing the weekly produce of 
their labour ; and he said, they grew quite torpid for want of 
property. Johnson. " They have no object for hope. Their 
condition cannot be better. It is rowing without a port." 

10 One of the company asked him the meaning of the expres- 
sion in Juvenal, unius lacertce. Johnson. "I think it clear 
enough ; as much ground as one may have a chance to find a 
lizard upon." 

This season, there was a whimsical fashion in the news-papers 

15 of applying Shakspeare's words to describe living persons 
well known in the world. Somebody said to Johnson, across 
the table, that he had not been in those characters. "Yes 
(said he,) I have. I should have been sorry to be left out." 
He then repeated what had been applied to him, 

20 " You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth." 

Miss Reynolds not perceiving at once the meaning of this, 
he was obliged to explain it to her, which had something of 
an awkw r ard and ludicrous effect. "Why, Madam, it has a 
reference to me, as using big words, which require the mouth 
25 of a giant to pronounce them. Gargantua is the name of a 
giant in Rabelais." Boswell. "But, Sir, there is another 
amongst them for you : 

' He would not flatter Neptune for his trident, 
Or Jove for his power to thunder.' " 

30 Johnson. " There is nothing marked in that. No, Sir, 
Gargantua is the best." When I, a little while afterwards, 
repeated his sarcasm on Kenrick, which was received with 
applause, he asked, "Who said that?" and on my suddenly 
answering, — Gargantua, he looked serious, which was a 

35 sufficient indication that he did not w T ish it to be kept up. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 213 

When we went to the drawing-room, there was a rich as- 
semblage. After wandering about in a kind of pleasing dis- 
traction for some time, I got into a corner, with Johnson, 
Garrick, and Harris. Garrick. "Pray, Sir, have you read 
Potter's iEschylus ?" Johnson. "We must try its effect as 5 
an English poem; that is the way to judge of the merit 
of a translation. Translations are, in general, for people who 
cannot read the original." I mentioned the vulgar saying, that 
Pope's Homer was not a good representation of the original. 
Johnson. ' l Sir, it is the greatest work of the kind that has ever 10 
been produced." — "To be distinct, we must talk analytically. 
If we anatyse language, we must speak of it grammatically ; 
if we analyse argument, we must speak of it logically." 

Garrick. "What ! eh ! is Strahan a good judge of an Epi- 
gram? Is not he rather an obtuse man, eh?" Johnson. 15 
"Why, Sir, he may not be a judge of an Epigram : but you 
see he is a j udge of what is not an Epigram . ' ' Garrick. ' ' Yes, 
I know enough of that. There was a reverend gentleman, 
(Mr. Hawkins,) who wrote a tragedy, the siege of something, 
which I refused." Harris. "So, the siege was raised. "20 
Johnson. "Ay, he came to me and complained ; and told me, 
that Garrick said his play was wrong in the concoction. Now, 
what is the concoction of a play?" (Here Garrick started, 
and twisted himself, and seemed sorely vexed; for Johnson 
told me, he believed the story was true.) Garrick. "I — I 25 
— I — said, first concoction." Johnson, (smiling,) "Well, 
he left out first. And Rich, he said, refused him in false 
English: he could show it under his hand." Garrick. "He 
wrote to me in violent wrath, for having refused his play: 
'Sir, this is growing a very serious and terrible affair. I am 30 
resolved to publish my play. I will appeal to the world; 
and how will your judgement appear!' I answered, 'Sir, 
notwithstanding all the seriousness, and all the terrours, I 
have no objection to your publishing your play; and as you 
live at a great distance, (Devonshire, I believe,) if you will send 35 
it to me, I will convey it to the press.' I never heard more of 
it, ha! ha! ha!" 



214 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

I found Johnson at home in the morning;. I said, "You 
were yesterday, Sir, in remarkably good humour. There 
was no bold offender. There was not one capital conviction. 
It was a maiden assize. You had on your white gloves." 
5 Johnson. "Sir, I knocked Fox on "the head, without 
ceremony. Reynolds is too much under Fox and Burke at 
present. He is under the Fox star, and the Irish constellation. 
He is always under some planet." 

Johnson was not in such spirits as he had been the preceding 

10 day, and for a considerable time little was said. At last 
he burst forth : "Subordination is sadly broken down in this 
age. No man, now, has the same authority which his father 
had, — except a gaoler. No master has it over his servants : 
it is diminished in our colleges ; nay, in our grammar-schools. " 

15Boswell. " What is the cause of this, Sir ? " Johnson. "Why, 
the coming in of the Scotch" (laughing sarcastic ally) . Bos- 
well. "That is to say, things have been turned topsy-turvy. 
— But your serious cause." Johnson. "Why, Sir, there 
are many causes, the chief of which is, I think, the great 

20 increase of money. No man now depends upon the Lord 
of the Manour, when he can send to another country, and 
fetch provisions. The shoe-black at the entry of my court 
does not depend on me. I can deprive him but of a penny a 
day, which he hopes somebody else will bring him ; and that 

25 penny I must carry to another shoe-black, so the trade 
suffers no tiling. Paternity used to be considered as of itself 
a great thing, which had a right to many claims. That is, 
in general, reduced to very small bounds. My hope is, that 
as anarchy produces tyranny,, this extreme relaxation will 

30 produce freni strictio. ,J ° 

I slily introduced Mr. Garrick's fame, and his assuming 
the airs of a great man. Johnson. "Sir, it is wonderful 
how little Garrick assumes. No, Sir, Garrick fortunam 
reverentcr habet. Consider, Sir ; celebrated men, such as you 

35 have mentioned, have had their applause at a distance; but 
Garrick had it dashed in his face, sounded in his ears, and 
went home every night with the plaudits of a thousand in 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 215 

his cranium. Then, Sir, Garrick did not find, but made his 
way to the tables, the levees, and almost the bed-chambers 
of the great. Then, Sir, Garrick had under him a numerous 
bod}^ of people; who, from fear of his power, and hopes of 
his favour, and admiration of his talents, were constantly 5 
submissive to him. And here is a man who has advanced 
the dignity of his profession. Garrick has made a player a 
higher character, and all this supported by great wealth of his 
own acquisition. If all this had happened to me, I should have 
had a couple of fellows with long poles walking before me, 10 
to knock down every body that stood in the way. Consider, 
if all this had happened to Cibber or Quin, they'd have jumped 
over the moon. — Yet Garrick speaks to us" (smiling). 
Boswell. "And Garrick is a very good man, a charitable 
man." Johnson. "Sir, a liberal man. He has given away 15 
more money than any man in England. There may be a 
little vanity mixed : but he has shewn, that money is not his 
first object." Boswell. "Yet Foote used to say of him, 
that he walked out with an intention to do a generous action ; 
but turning the corner of a street, he met with the ghost of a 20 
halfpenny, which frightened him." Johnson. "Why, Sir, 
that is very true, too ; for I never knew a man of whom it 
could be said with less certainty to-day, what he will do to- 
morrow, than Garrick; it depends so much on his humour 
at the time." Scott. "I am glad to hear of his liberality. 25 
He has been represented as very saving." Johnson. "With 
his domestick saving we have nothing to do. I remember 
drinking tea with him long ago, when Peg Woffington made it, 
and he grumbled at her for making it too strong. He had 
then begun to feel money in his purse, and did not know when 30 
he should have enough of it." 

On the subject of wealth, the proper use of it, and the effects 
cf that art which is called economy, he observed, "It is 
wonderful to think how* men of very large estates not only 
spend their yearly incomes, but are often actually in want of 35 
money. It is clear they have not value for what they spend. 
A great proportion must go in waste; and, indeed, this is 



216 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

the case with most people, whatever their fortune is." Bos- 
well. "What is waste?" Johnson. " Why, Sir, breaking 
bottles, and a thousand other things. Waste cannot be 
accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. 
5 Economy, by which a certain income is made to maintain a 
man genteelly, and waste, by which, on the same income, 
another man lives shabbily, cannot be defined. It is a very 
nice thing ; as one man wears his coat out much sooner than 
another." 

10 We talked of war. Johnson. "Every man thinks meanly 
of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been 
at sea." Boswell. "Lord Mansfield does not." Johnson. 
"Sir, if Lord Mansfield were in a company of General Officers 
and Admirals who have been in service, he would shrink; 

15 he'd wish to creep under the table." Boswell. "No; he'd 
think he could try them all." Johnson. " No, Sir : were Soc- 
rates and Charles the Twelfth of Sweden both present in any 
company , and Socrates to say, 'Follow me, and hear a lecture 
in philosophy ; ' and Charles, laying his hand on his sword, to 

20 say, 'Follow me, and dethrone the Czar;' a man would be 
ashamed to follow Socrates. Sir, the impression is universal : 
yet it is strange. As to the sailor, when you look down 
from the quarter-deck to the space below, you see the utmost 
extremity of human misery : such crowding, such filth, such 

25 stench!" Boswell. "Yet sailors are happy." Johnson. 
"They are happy as brutes are happy, with a piece of fresh 
meat, — with the grossest sensuality. But, Sir, the pro- 
fession of soldiers and sailors has the dignity of danger. 
Mankind reverence those who have got over fear, which is so 

30 general a weakness. ' ' Scott. ' ' But is not courage mechanical, 
and to be acquired?" Johnson. "Why yes, Sir, in a col- 
lective sense. Soldiers consider themselves only as part of a 
great machine. " 

I have heard Mr. Gibbon remark, "that Mr. Fox could not 

35 be afraid of Dr. Johnson ; yet he certainly was very shy of 
saying any thing in Dr. Johnson's presence." 

I said I asked questions in order to be instructed and enter- 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 217 

tained ; I repaired eagerly to the fountain ; but the moment 
he gave me a hint, the moment he put a lock upon the well, I 
desisted. — "But, Sir, (said he,) that is forcing one to do a dis- 
agreeable thing :" and he continued to rate me. "Nay, Sir, 
(said I,) when I can no longer drink, do not make the fountain 5 
of your wit play upon me and w^et me. 7 ' 

He sometimes could not bear being teazed with questions. 
Once a gentleman asked so many, as, "What did you do, 
Sir?" "What did you say, Sir?" that he at last grew en- 
raged. " I. will not be put to the question. Don't you consider, 10 
Sir, that these are not the manners of a gentleman ? I will not 
be baited with what and why ; what is this ? what is that ? 
why is a cow's tail long? why is a fox's tail bushy?" The 
gentleman, a good deal out of countenance, said, "Why, Sir, 
you are so good, that I venture to trouble you." Johnson. 15 
"Sir, my being so good is no reason why you should be so ill" 

He expressed a particular enthusiasm with respect to visiting 
the wall of China. I said I really believed I should go and see 
the wall of China had I not children, of whom it was my duty 
to take care. "Sir, (said he,) you would be raising your chil- 20 
dren to eminence. There would be a lustre reflected upon 
them from your spirit and curiosity. They would be at all 
times regarded as the children of a man who had gone to visit 
the wall of China. I am serious, Sir." 

He said, "Will you go home with me?" "Sir, (said I,) 25 
it is late ; but I'll go with you for three minutes." Johnson. 
"Or four." We went to Mrs. Williams's room, where we 
found Mr. Allen the printer, the landlord of his house in Bolt- 
court, his very old acquaintance ; and what was exceedingly 
amusing, though he was of a very diminutive size, he used, 30 
even in Johnson's presence, to imitate the stately periods 
and slow and solemn utterance of the great man. — I this 
evening boasted, that although I did not write what is called 
stenography, I had a method of my own of writing hah words, 
and leaving out some altogether, so as yet to keep the sub- 35 
stance and language. He defied me, as he had once defied 
an actual shorthand writer ; and he made the experiment by 



218 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

reading slowly and distinctly a part of Robertson's " History 
of America.'' It was found that I had it very imperfectly. 

Dr. Dodd's poem, entitled " Thoughts in Prison/' was lying 
upon his table. Having looked at the prayer at the end of it, 
5 he said, "What evidence is there that this was composed the 
night before he suffered ? I do not believe it." He then read 
aloud where he prays for the King, &c. and observed, "Sir, 
do you think that a man, the night before he is to be hanged, 
cares for the succession of a royal family ? — Though, he may 

10 have composed this prayer then. A man who . has been 
canting all his life, may cant to the last. — And yet, a man 
who has been refused a pardon after so much petitioning, 
would hardly be praying thus fervently for the King." 

He and I, and Mrs. Williams, went to dine with the Rever- 

15 end Dr. Percy. Talking of Goldsmith, Johnson said, he was 
very envious. I defended him, by observing that he owned it 
frankly upon all occasions. Johnson. " Sir, you are enforcing 
the charge. He had so much envy, that he could not conceal 
it. He was so full of it, that he overflowed. He talked of it 

20 to be sure often enough." 

Johnson praised Pennant very highly. Dr. Percy knowing 
himself to be the heir male of the ancient Percies could not sit 
quietly and hear a man praised, who had spoken disrespect- 
fully of Alnwick-Castle and the Duke's pleasure-grounds. 

25 He therefore opposed Johnson eagerly. Johnson. " Pennant, 
in what he has said of Alnwick, has done what he intended ; 
he has made you very angry." Percy. a He has said the 
garden is trim, representing it like a citizen's parterre, when 
the truth is, there is a very large extent of fine turf and gravel 

30 walks." Johnson. "Your extent puts me in mind of the 
citizen's enlarged dinner, two pieces of roast-beef, and two 
puddings." Percy. " He pretends to give the natural history 
of Northumberland, and yet takes no notice of the immense 
number of trees planted there of late . ' ' Johnson. 1 1 That, Sir, 

35 has nothing to do with the natural history; that is civil 
history. A man who gives the natural history of the oak, 
is not to tell how many oaks have been planted in this place 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.B. 219 

or that. A man who gives the natural history of the cow, is not 
to tell how many cows are milked at Islington. The animal 
is the same, whether milked in the Park or at Islington." 
Percy. " Pennant does not describe well ; a carrier who goes 
along the side of Lochlomond would describe it better." 5 
Johnson. "I think he describes very well. I travelled after 
him." Percy. "But, my good friend, you are short-sighted, 
and do not see so well as I do." I wondered at Dr. Percy's 
venturing thus. Johnson, (pointedly) "This is the resent- 
ment of a narrow mind, because he did not find every thing in 10 
Northumberland." Percy, (feeling the stroke) "Sir, you 
may be as rude as you please." Johnson. "Hold,, Sir ! don't 
talk of rudeness ; remember, Sir, you told me, (puffing hard 
with passion struggling for a vent) I was short-sighted. We 
have done with civility. We are to be as rude as we please." 15 
Percy. "Upon my honour, Sir, I did not mean to be uncivil." 
Johnson. "I cannot say so, Sir ; for I did mean to be uncivil, 
thinking you had been uncivil." Dr. Percy rose, ran up to 
him, and taking him by the hand, assured him affectionately 
that his meaning had been misunderstood ; upon which a 20 
reconciliation instantly took place. Johnson. "My dear 
Sir, I am willing you shall hang Pennant." Percy. "Pennant 
complains that the helmet is not hung out to invite to the hall 
of hospitality. Now I never heard that it was a custom to 
hang out a helmet." ° Johnson. "Hang him up, hang 25 
him up." Boswell. (humouring the joke) "Hang out 
his skull instead of a helmet, and you may drink ale out 
of it in your hall of Odin, as he is your enemy; that will 
be truly ancient. There will be ' Northern Antiquities.'" 
Johnson. "He's a Whig, Sir; a sad dog. But he's the best 30 
traveller I ever read ; he observes more things than any one 
else does." 

Mr. Pennant, like his countrymen in general, has the true 
spirit of a gentleman. As a proof of it, I shall quote from his • 
"London " the passage, in which he speaks of my illustrious 35 
friend. "I must by no means omit Bolt-court, the long 
residence of Doctor Samuel Johnson, a man of the strongest 



220 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

natural abilities, great learning, a most retentive memory, 
of the deepest and most unaffected piety and morality, 
mingled with those numerous weaknesses and prejudices which 
his friends have kindly taken care to draw from their dread 
5 abode. I brought on myself his transient anger, by observing 
that in his tour in Scotland, he once had long and woeful 
experience of oats being the food of men in Scotland as they 

. were of horses in England. It was a national reflection un- 
- .-worthy of him, and I shot my bolt. In return he gave me a 

10 tender hug. Con amove he also said of me ' The dog is a 
Whig:" 

We had a calm after the storm, staid the evening and supped, 
and were pleasant and gay. But Dr. Percy told me he was 
very uneasy at wh*».t had passed ; for there was a gentleman 

15 there who was well acquainted with the Northumberland 
family, to whom he hoped to have appeared more respectable, 
by shewing how intimate he was with Dr. Johnson, and who 
might now, on the contrary, go away with an opinion to his 
disadvantage. He begged I would mention this to Dr. 

20 Johnson, which I afterwards did. His observation upon it 
was, "This comes of stratagem; had he told me that he wished 
to appear to advantage before that gentleman, he should have 
been at the top of the house all the time." "Then r Sir, (said 
I,) I will write a letter to you upon the subject of the un- 

25 lucky contest of that day, and 3^ou will be kind enough to put 
in writing as an answer to that letter, what you have now 
said, and as Lord Percy is to dine with us at General Paoli's 
soon, I will take an opportunity to read the correspondence 
in his Lordship's presence." This friendly scheme was accord- 

30 ingly carried into execution without Dr. Percy's knowledge. 

He was highly delighted with Dr. Johnson's letter, of which I 

gave him a copy. He said, "I would rather have this than 

degrees from all the Universities in Europe. It will be for me, 

. and my children and grand- children." Dr. Johnson having 

35 afterwards asked me if I had given him a copy of it, and beinj 
told I had, was offended, and insisted that I should get i 
back, which I did. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 221 

(The letter) To Boswell. 

"The debate between Dr. Percy and me is one of those 
foolish controversies, which begin upon a question of which 
neither party cares how it is decided, and which is, 
nevertheless, continued to acrimony, by the vanity with 5 
which every man resists confutation. If Percy is really 
offended, I am sorry ; for he is a man whom I never knew to 
offend any one. It is true that he vexes me sometimes, 
but I am afraid it is by making me feel my own ignorance. 
Percy's attention to poetry has given grace and splendour to 10 
his studies of antiquity. A mere antiquarian is a rugged 
being. Sam. Johnson." 

At Mr. Langton's he was in a very silent mood. Before dinner 
he said nothing but "Pretty baby," to one of the children. 
Langton said, that he could repeat Johnson's conversation 15 
before dinner, as Johnson had said that he could repeat a 
complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland/' from 
the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus : 

"Chap. LXXII. Concerning Snakes. 

"There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole 20 
island." 

Johnson. "I think every man whatever has a peculiar 
style, which may be discovered by nice examination and com- 
parison with others : but a man must write a great deal to 
make his style obviously discernible. As logicians say, this 25 
appropriation of style is infinite in potestate, limited in actu. 

Dr. Dodd had once wished to be a member of the Literary 
Club. Johnson. " I should be sorry if any of our Club were 
hanged. I will not say but some of them deserve it." Beau- 
clerk (supposing this to be aimed at persons for whom he had 30 
at that time a wonderful fancy, which, however, did not 
last long,) was irritated, and eagerly said, "You, Sir, have a 
friend (naming him) who deserves to be hanged ; for he speaks 
behind their backs against those with whom he lives on the 



222 

best terms, and attacks them in the news-papers. He 
certainly ought to be kicked." Johnson. "Sir, we all do this 
in some degree : ' Veniam petimus damusque vicissim.' r 
Johnson. " To be merely satisfied is not enough. It is in 
5 refinement and elegance that the civilized man differs from the 
savage. A great part of our industry, and all our ingenuity is 
exercised in procuring pleasure; and, Sir, a hungry man 
has not the same pleasure in eating a plain dinner, that a 
hungry man has in eating a luxurious dinner. You see I put 

10 the case fairly. A hungry man may have as much, nay, 
more pleasure in eating a plain dinner, than a man grown 
fastidious has in eating a luxurious dinner. But I suppose 
the man who decides between the two dinners, to be equally a 
hungry man." 

15 Dr. Johnson endeavoured to trace the etymology of Mac- 
caronick verses, from Maccaroni ; but maccaroni being the 
most ordinary and simple food, he was at a loss ; " for Macca- 
ronick verses are verses made out of a mixture of different 
languages, that is, of one language with the termination of 

20 another." It is particularly droll in Low Dutch. The 
" ' Polemo-middinia" of Drummond, of Hawthornden, in 
which there is a jumble of many languages moulded, as if it 
were all in Latin, is well known. Mr. Langton made us 
laugh heartily at one in the Grecian mould, in which are to be 

25 found such comical Anglo-hellenisms as K\vf3/3oi(TLv e/3avx0ev: 
they were banged with clubs. 

Mr. Orme. "I do not care on what subject Johnson talks ; 
but I love better to hear him talk than any body. He either 
gives you new thoughts, or a new colouring. It is a shame 

30 to the nation that he has not been more liberally rewarded. 
Had I been George the Third, I would have given Johnson 
three hundred a year for his ' Taxation no Tyranny/ alone." 
I repeated this, and Johnson was much pleased with such 
praise from such a man as Orme. 

35 At Mr. Dilly's to-day were Mrs. Knowles, the ingenious 
Quaker lady, Miss Seward, the poetess of Lichfield, the 
Reverend Dr. Mayo, and the Rev. Mr. Beresford, Tutor to 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 223 

the Duke of Bedford. Before dinner Dr. Johnson seized upon 
Mr. Charles Sheridan's " Account of the late Revolution in 
Sweden/' and seemed to read it ravenously, as if he devoured 
it, which was to all appearance his method of studying. "He 
knows how to read better than any one (said Mrs. Knowles) ; 5 
he gets at the substance of a book directly ; he tears out the 
heart of it." He kept it wrapt up in the table-cloth in his lap 
during the time of dinner, from an avidity to have one enter- 
tainment in readiness, when he should have finished another ; 
resembling (if I may use so coarse a simile) a dog who holds 10 
a bone in his paws in reserve, while he eats something else 
which has been thrown to him. 

The subject of cookery having been very naturally intro- 
duced at a table where Johnson, who boasted of the niceness 
of his palate, owned that "he always found a good dinner," 15 
he said, "I could write a better book of cookery than has 
ever yet been written ; it should be a book upon philosophical 
principles. Pharmacy is now made much more simple. 
Cookery may be made so too. Then, as you cannot make 
bad meat good, I would tell what is the best butcher's meat, 20 
the best beef, the best pieces ; how to choose young fowls ; 
the proper seasons of different vegetables ; and then how to 
roast and boil and compound." Dilly. "Mrs. Glasse's 
1 Cookery/ which is the best, was written by Dr. Hill. Half 
the trade know this." Johnson. "Well, Sir. This shews 25 
how much better the subject of Cookery may be treated 
by a philosopher. But you shall see what a Book of Cookery 
I shall make ! I shall agree with Mr. Dilly for the copy-right. " 
Miss Seward. "That would be Hercules with the distaff 
indeed." Johnson. "No, Madam. Women can spin very 30 
well ; but they cannot make a good book of Cookery." 

Mrs. Knowles affected to complain that men had much 
more liberty allowed them than women. Johnson. "Why, 
Madam, women have all the liberty they should wish to have. 
We have all the labour and the danger, and the women all the 35 
advantage. We go to sea, we build houses, we do every thing, 
in short, to pay our court to the women." Mrs. Knowles. 



224 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"The Doctor reasons very wittily, but not convincingly. 
Now, take the instance of building; the mason's wife, if 
she is ever seen in liquor, is ruined ; the mason may get 
himself drunk as often as he pleases, with little loss of charac- 
5ter; nay, may let his wife and children starve.'' Johnson. 
" Madam, you must consider, if the mason does get him- 
self drunk, and let his wife and children starve, the parish will 
oblige him to find security for their maintenance. We have 
different modes of restraining evil. Stocks for the men, a 

10 ducking-stool for women, and a pound for beasts. If we re- 
quire more perfection from women than from ourselves, 
it is doing them honour. And women have not the same 
temptations that we have ; they may always live in virtuous 
company ; men must live in the world indiscriminately. If 

15 a woman has no inclination to do what is wrong, being secured 
from it is no restraint to her. I am at liberty to walk into the 
Thames ; but if I were to try it, my friends would restrain 
me in Bedlam, and I should be obliged to them." Mrs. 
Knowles. "Still, Doctor, I cannot help thinking it a hardship 

20 that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women. It 
gives a superiority to men, to which I do not see how thej r are 
entitled." Johnson. "It is plain, Madam, one or other 
must have the superiority. As Shakspeare says, ' If two men 
ride on a horse, one must ride behind.' " Dilly. "I suppose, 

25 Sir, Mrs. Knowles would have them ride in panniers, one on 
each side." Johnson. "Then, Sir, the horse would throw 
them both." Mrs. Knowles. "Well, I hope that in another 
world the sexes will be equal." Boswell. "That is being 
too ambitious, Madam. We might as well desire to be equal 

30 with the angels. A worthy carman will get to heaven as 
well as Sir Isaac Xewton. Yet, though equally good, they 
will not have the same degrees of happiness." 

Johnson. "All friendship is preferring the interest of a 
friend, to the neglect, or, perhaps, against the interests of 

35 others ; so that an old Greek said, i He that has friends has no 
friend. ' Now Christianity recommends universal benevolence, 
— to consider all men as our brethren ; which is contrary to the 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 225 

virtue of friendship, as described by the ancient philosophers. 
Surely, Madam, your sect must approve of this ; for, you call 
all men friends." Mrs. Knowles. "We are commanded 
to do good to all men, l but especially to them who are of the 
household of Faith.'". Johnson. "Well, Madam, the 5 
household of Faith is wide enough." Mrs. Knowles, 
"But, Doctor, our Saviour had twelve Apostles, yet John was 
called 'the disciple whom Jesus loved.'" Johnson, (with 
eyes sparkling benignantly) "Very well, indeed, Madam. 
You have said very well." Boswell. "A fine applica- 10 
tion. Pray, Sir, had you ever thought of it ?" Johnson. "I 
had not, Sir. " 

From this pleasing subject he made a sudden transition. 
"I am willing to love all mankind, except an American:" 
and his inflammable corruption bursting into horrid fire, 15 
he "breathed out threatenings and slaughter;" calling them 
"Rascals — Robbers — Pirates;" and exclaiming, he'd "burn 
and destroy them." Miss Seward, looking to him with mild, 
but steady astonishment, said, "Sir, this is an instance that 
we are always most violent against those whom we have in- 20 
jured." — He was irritated still more by this delicate and 
keen reproach; and roared out another tremendous volley 
which one might fancy could be heard across the Atlantick. 

Dr. Mayo, (to Dr. Johnson.) "Pray, Sir, have you read 
Edwards, of New England, on Grace?" Johnson. "No, 25 
Sir." Boswell. " It puzzled me so much as to the freedom 
of the human will, by stating, with wonderful.acute ingenuity, 
our being actuated by a series of motives which we cannot 
resist, that the only relief I had was to forget it. 
The argument for the moral necessity of human actions is 30 
always, I observe, fortified by supposing universal prescience 
to be one of the attributes of the Deity." Johnson. "You 
are surer that you are free, than you are of prescience; 
you are surer that you can lift up your finger or not as you 
please, than you are of any conclusion from a deduction of 35 
reasoning. But let us consider a little the objection from 
prescience. It is certain I am either to go home to-night or 



226 

not; that does not prevent my freedom. If I am well 
acquainted with a man, I can judge with great probability 
how he will act in any case, without his being restrained by 
my judging. God may have this probability increased to 
5 certainty/' Boswell. "When it is increased to certainty, 
freedom ceases. " Johnson. " All theory is against the freedom 
of the will; all experience for it." 

He, as usual, defended luxury. Miss Seward asked if 
this was not Mandeville's doctrine of "private vices publick 

10 benefits." Johnson. "The fallacy of that book is, that 
Mandeville defines neither vices nor benefits. He reckons 
among vices every thing that gives pleasure. He takes 
the narrowest system of morality, monastick morality, which 
holds pleasure itself to be a vice, such as eating salt with our 

15 fish; and he reckons wealth as a publick benefit, which is by 
no means always true. Pleasure of itself is not a vice. The 
happiness of Heaven will be, that pleasure and virtue will be 
perfectly consistent. Mandeville puts the case of a man who 
gets drunk at an alehouse; and sa} r s it is a public benefit, 

20 because so much money is got by it to the publick. But it 
must be considered, that all the good gained by this, through 
the gradation of alehouse-keeper, brewer, maltster, and 
farmer ^ is overbalanced by the evil caused to the man and his 
family by his getting drunk. This is the way to try what is 

25 vicious, by ascertaining whether more evil than good is 
produced upon the whole, which is the case in all vice. 
No, it is clear, that the happiness of society depends on 
virtue. In Sparta, theft was allowed by general consent ; 
theft, therefore, was there not a crime, but then there was no 

30 security ; and what a life must they have had when there was 
no security. Without truth there must be a dissolution of 
society. As it is, there is so little truth, that we are almost 
afraid to trust our ears ; but how should we be, if falsehood 
were multiplied ten times ! Society is held together by com- 

35 muni cation and information ; and I remember this remark of 
Sir Thomas Brown's, 'Do the devils lie ? No ; for then Hell 
could not subsist/ ; 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 227 

Talking of Miss Hannah Moore, a literary lady, he said, 
"I was obliged to speak to Miss Reynolds, to let her know 
that I desired she would not flatter me so much. Why 
should she flatter me? I can do nothing for her. Let her 
carry her praise to a better market. (Then turning to 5 
Mrs. Knowles.) You, Madam, have been flattering me 
all the evening ; I wish you would give Boswell a little 
now. If you knew his merit as well as I do, you would 
say a great deal; he is the best travelling companion in 
the world. " 10 

I expressed a horrour at the thought of death. Mrs. 
Knowles. "Nay, thou shoukTst not have a horrour for what 
is the gate of fife." Johnson, (standing upon the hearth 
rolling about, with a serious, solemn, and somewhat gloon^ 
air :) " No rational man can die without uneasy apprehension. " 15 
Mrs. Knowles. "The Scriptures tell us, 'The righteous shall 
have hope in his death.'" Johnson. "Yes, Madam; that 
is, he shall not have despair." Miss Seward. "There is one 
mode of the fear of death, which is certainly absurd : and that 
is the dread of annihilation, which is only a pleasing sleep 20 
without a dream." Johnson. "It is neither pleasing, nor 
sleep ; it is nothing. Now mere existence is so much better 
than nothing, that one would rather exist even in pain, than 
not exist. The lady confounds annihilation, which is 
nothing, with the apprehension of it, which is dreadful." 25 

Of John Wesley, he said, "He can talk well on any subject." 
Boswell. "Pray, Sir, what has he made of his* story of a 
ghost?" Johnson. "Why, Sir, he believes it; but not on 
sufficient authority. He did not take time enough to examine 
the girl. It was at Newcastle, where the ghost was said to 30 
have appeared to a young woman several times, mentioning 
something about the right to an old house, advising appli- 
cation to be made to an attorney, which was done ; and, at 
the same time, saying the attorney would do nothing, which 
proved to be the fact. 'This (says John,) is a proof that the 35 
ghost knows our thoughts.' Now (laughing,) it is not neces- 
sary to know our thoughts, to tell that an attorney will 



228 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

sometimes do nothing. Charles Wesley, who is a more 
stationary man, does not believe the story. I am sorry that 
John did not take more pains to enquire into the evidence for 
it." Miss Seward, (with an incredulous smile:) "What, 
5 Sir ! about a ghost ? ' - Johnson, (with solemn vehemence :) 
"Yes, Madam : this is a question, which, after five thousand 
years, is yet undecided; a question, whether in theology or 
philosophy, one of the most important that can come before 
the human understanding. " 

10 Mrs. Knowles mentioned, as proselyte to Quakerism, Miss 
Jenny Harry, a young lady well known to Dr. Johnson, for 
whom he had shewn much affection ; and, in the gentlest and 
most persuasive manner, solicited his kind indulgence for 
what was sincerely a matter of conscience. Johnson, 

15 (frowning very angrily,) "Madam, she is an odious wench. 
She could not hav t e any proper conviction that it was her 
duty to change her religion, which should be studied with 
all care. She knew no more of the Church which she left, and 
that which she embraced, than she did of the difference 

20 between the Copernican and Ptoiemaick systems." Mrs. 
Knowles. "She had the New Testament before her." 
Johnson. "Madam, she could not understand the New 
Testament, the most difficult book in the world, for which the 
study of a life is required." Mrs. Knowles. "It is clear as 

25 to essentials." Johnson. "But not as to controversial 
points." 

Notwithstanding occasional explosions of violence, we were 
all delighted upon the whole with Johnson. I compared him 
at this time to a warm West-Indian climate, where you have 

30 a bright sun, quick vegetation, luxuriant foliage, luscious 
fruits; but where the same heat sometimes produces thun- 
der, lightning, and earthquakes, in a terrible degree. 

Good- Friday, I waited on Johnson, as usual. Although it 
was a part of his abstemious discipline on this most solemn 

35 fast, to take no milk in his tea, yet when Mrs. Desmoulins 
inadvertently poured it in, he did not reject it. Johnson. 
"Sir, I am in the habit of getting others to do things for me. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 229 

But I always think afterwards I should have done better 
for myself." 

I told him that at a gentleman's house where there was 
thought to be extravagance, his lady had objected to the cut- 
ting of a pickled mango, the price of it only two shillings. 5 
Johnson. "Sir, that is the blundering ceconomy of a narrow 
understanding. It is stopping one hole in a sieve." 

I expressed some inclination to publish an account of my 
Travels upon the continent. ' C I can give an entertaining narra- 
tive, with many incidents, anecdotes, jeux d' esprit." Johnson. 10 
"Why, Sir, most modern travellers in Europe who have 
published their travels, have been laughed at : I would not 
■ have you added to the number. Now some of my friends asked 
me, why I did not give some account of my travels in France. 
The reason is plain; intelligent readers had seen more of 15 
France than I had. You might have liked my travels in 
France, and The Club might have liked them ; but, upon the 
whole, there would have been more ridicule than good pro- 
duced by them." Boswell. " Sir, to talk to you in your own 
style (raising my voice, and shaking my head,) you should 20 
have given us your travels in France. I am sure I am right, 
and there's an end on't." Johnson. " Books of travels will be 
good in proportion to what a man has previously in his mind ; 
his knowing what to observe ; his power of contrasting one 
mode of life with another. As the Spanish proverb says, 25 
'He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must 
carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' " 

It was a delightful day : as we walked to St. Clement's 
church, I again remarked that Fleet-street was the most cheer- 
ful scene in the world. "Fleet-street (said I,) is in my mind 30 
more delightful than Tempe." Johnson. "Ay, Sir; but let it 
be compared with Mull." 

He has made the following minute on this day: "In my 
return from church, I was accosted by Edwards, an old fellow- 
collegian, who had not seen me since 1729. My purpose is 35 
to continue our acquaintance." It was in Butcher-row that 
this meeting happened. Mr. Edwards, who was a decent- 



230 

looking elderly man in gre}^ clothes, and a wig of many curls, 
brought to his recollection their having been at Pembroke- 
College together nine-and-forty years ago. Johnson seemed 
much pleased, asked where he lived, and said he should be 
5 glad to see him in Bolt-court. So Edwards walked along 
with us. Mr. Edwards expatiated on the pleasure of living in 
the country. " I see my grass, and my corn, and my trees 
growing. Now, for instance, I am curious to see if this 
frost has not nipped my fruit-trees." Johnson. " You find, 

10 Sir, you have fears as well as hopes." — So well did he see the 
whole, when another saw but the half of a subject. 

When we got to Dr. Johnson's house, and were seated in his 
library, the dialogue went on admirably. Edwards. "Sir, 
I remember you would not let us say prodigious at College. 

15 For even then, Sir, (turning to me,) he was delicate in lan- 
guage, and we all feared him." Johnson, (to Edwards :) 
"From your having practised the law long, Sir, I presume you 
must be ricm" . Edwards. "No, Sir; I got a good deal of 
money; but I had a number of poor relations to wirom I 

20 gave a great part of it." Johnson. ' ' Sir, you have been rich in 
the most valuable sense of the word." Edwards. "But I 
shall not die rich." Johnson. " Nay, sure, Sir, it is better to 
live rich, than to die rich." Edwajids. "I wish I had con- 
tinued at College. I should have been a parson, and had a 

25 good living." Johnson. "Sir, the life of a parson, of a con- 
scientious clerg3mran, is not easy. I have always considered a 
clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to 
maintain. I would rather have Chancery suits upon my 
hands than the cure of souls. No, Sir, I do not envy a clergy- 

30 man's fife as an easy life, nor do I envy the clergyman who 
makes it an easy life." — Here taking himself up all of a 
sudden, he exclaimed, "0 ! Mr. Edwards ! I'll convince you 
that I recollect you. Do you remember our drinking to- 
gether at an alehouse near Pembroke gate ? At that time, 

35 you told me of the Eton boy, who, when verses on our 
Saviour's turning water into wine were prescribed as an exer- 
cise, brought up a single line, which was highly admired : 



LL.D. 231 

1 Vidit et erubuit ° lympha pudica Deum.' 

and I told you of another fine line in ' Camden's Remains/ 
an eulogy upon one of our Kings, who was succeeded by his 
son, a prince of equal merit : 

' Mira cano, Sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est.' " 5 

Edwards. "You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I have 
tried "too in my time to be a philosopher ; but, I don't know 
how, cheerfulness was always breaking in." — Mr. Burke, 
Sir Joshua Reynolds, indeed, all the eminent men to whom I 
have mentioned this, have thought it an exquisite trait of 10 
character. 

Edwards. "I have been twice married, Doctor. You, I sup- 
pose, have never known what it w T as to have a wife . J ' Johnson. 
"Sir, I have known what it was to have a wife, and (in a 
solemn tender faltering tone) I have known what it was to 15 
lose a wife. — It had almost broke my heart." 
' Edwards. "How do you live, Sir? For my part, I must 
have my regular meals, and a glass of good wine. I find I 
require it." Johnson. " I now drink no wine, Sir. And 
as to regular, meals, I have fasted from the Sunday's 20 
dinner to the Tuesday's dinner, without any inconvenience. 
I believe it is best to eat just as one is hungry. I 
am a straggler. I may leave this town and go to Grand 
Cairo, without being missed here or observed there." Ed- 
wards. " Don't you eat supper, Sir ? " Johnson. " No, Sir." 25 
Edwards. "For my part, now, I consider supper as a turn- 
pike through which one must pass, in order to get to bed. 
I am grown old: I am sixty-five." Johnson. "I shall 
be sixty-eight next birthday. Come, Sir, drink water, and 
put in for a hundred." 30 

Mr. Edwards mentioned a gentleman who had left his whole 
fortune to Pembroke College. Johnson. " I would leave the 
interest of the fortune I bequeathed to a College to my rela- 
tions or my friends, for their lives. It is the same thing to 
a College, which is a permanent society, whether it gets the 35 



232 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

money now or twenty years hence ; and I would wish to make 
my relations or friends feel the benefit of it." 

He observed, "how wonderful it was that they had both 
been in London forty years, without having ever once met, 
5 and both walkers in the street too !" When he was gone, I 
said to Johnson, I thought him but a weak man. Johnson. 
"Why, yes, Sir. Here is a man who has passed through life 
without experience : yet I would rather have him with me 
than a more sensible man who will not talk readily. This 

10 man is always willing to say what he has to say." Yet Dr. 
Johnson had himself by no means that willingness which he 
praised so justly. 

Johnson once observed to me, "Tom Tyers described me 
the best: 'Sir, (said he,) you are like a ghost; you never 

15 speak till you are spoken to.' " 

The gentleman was the son of Mr. Jonathan Tyers, the 
founder of Vauxhall Gardens, peculiarly adapted to the taste 
of the English nation ; there being a mixture of curious shew, 
— gay exhibition, — musick, vocal and instrumental, not 

20 too refined for the general ear ; — for all which only a shilling 
is paid ; and, though last, not least, good eating and drinking 
for those who choose to purchase that regale. 

Johnson. "Sir, it would have been better that I had been 
of a profession. I ought to have been a lawyer." Boswell. 

25 "We should not have had the English Dictionary." 

Sir William Scott said to Johnson, "What a pity it is, Sir, 
that you did not follow the profession of the law. You 
might have been Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and at- 
tained to the dignity of the peerage ; and now that the title 

30 of Lichfield, your native city, is extinct, you might have had 
it." Johnson, upon this, seemed much agitated; and, in 
an angry tone, exclaimed, "Why will you vex me by suggest- 
ing this, when it is too late?" 

But he did not repine at the prosperity of others. When 

35 Mr. Edmund Burke shewed Johnson his fine house and lands 
near Beaconsfield, Johnson coolly said, "Non equidem in- 
video; miror magis" ° 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 233 

He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that once when he dined in a 
numerous company of booksellers, the head of the table, at 
which he sat, being almost close to the fire, he persevered in 
suffering a great deal of inconvenience from the heat, rather 
than quit his place, and let one of them sit above him. 5 

Goldsmith, in his diverting simplicity, complained one day 
of Lord Camden. " He took no more notice of me than if I 
had been an ordinary man." The company having laughed 
heartily, Johnson stood forth in defence of his friend. "Nay, 
Gentlemen, a nobleman ought to have made up to such a 10 
man as Goldsmith." 

Garrick, who was very vain of his intimacy with Lord 
Camden, accosted me thus: — "Pray now, did you — did 
you meet a little lawyer turning the corner, eh?" — "No, 
Sir (said I). Pray what do you mean by the question?" 15 
— "Why, (replied Garrick, with an affected indifference, yet 
as if standing on tip-toe,) Lord Camden has this moment left 
me. We have had a long walk together." Johnson. 
"Well, Sir, Garrick talked very properly. Lord Camden 
was a little lawyer to be associating so familiarly with a 20 
player." 

Sir Joshua Reynolds observed, that Johnson considered Gar- 
rick to be as it were his property. He would allow no man 
either to blame or to praise Garrick in his presence, without 
contradicting him. 25 

He would not even look at the proof-sheet of his " Life of 
Waller" on Good Friday. 

Johnson. " Indeed I never sought much after any body." 
Boswell. "Lord Orrery, I suppose." Johnson. "No, Sir ; 
I never went to him but when he sent for me." Boswell. 30 
"Richardson?" Johnson. "Yes, Sir. But I sought after 
George Psalmanazar ° the most. I used to go and sit with 
him at an alehouse in the city." 

I observed, that the pillory does not always disgrace. And 
I mentioned an instance of a gentleman, who I thought 35 
was not dishonoured by it. Johnson. "Ay, but he was, 
Sir. He could not mouth and strut as he used to do, after 



234 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

having been there. People are not willing to ask a man to 
their tables who has stood in the pillory." 

Johnson attacked the Americans with intemperate vehe- 
mence of abuse. I said something in their favour ; and added, 
5 that I was always sorry, when he talked on that subject. This, 
it seems, exasperated him. The cloud was charged with sul- 
phureous vapour, which was afterwards to burst in thunder. 
— We talked of a gentleman who was running out his fortune 
in London; I said, "We must get him out of it. All his 

10 friends must quarrel with him, and that will soon drive him 
away." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, well send you to him. If 
your company does not drive a man out of his house, nothing 
will." This was a horrible shock, for which there was no 
visible cause. I afterwards asked him, why he had said so 

15 harsh a thing. Johnson. "Because, Sir, you made me angry 
about the Americans." Boswell. "But why did you not 
take your revenge directly?" Johnson, (smiling) "Be- 
cause, Sir, I had nothing ready. A man cannot strike till 
he has his weapons." 

20 He shewed me to-night his drawing-room, very genteelly 
fitted up; and said, "Mrs. Thrale sneered, when I talked of 
my having asked you and your lady to live at my house. I 
was obliged to tell her, that you would be in as respectable a 
situation in my house as in hers. Sir, the insolence of wealth 

25 will creep out." Boswell. "She has a little both of the 
insolence of wealth, and the conceit of parts." Johnson. 
"The insolence of wealth is a wretched thing; but the con- 
ceit of parts has some foundation. To be sure, it should not 
be. But who is without it?" Boswell. "Yourself", Sir." 

30 Johnson. "Why, I play no tricks: I lay no traps." Bos- 
well. "No, Sir. You are six feet high, and you only do 
not stoop." 

I mentioned that there were a hundred in the family of 
the present Earl of Eglintoune's father. Dr. Johnson seem- 

35 ing to doubt it, I began to enumerate. "Let us see : my Lord 
and my Lady two." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, if you are to 
count by twos, } T ou may be long enough." Boswell. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 235 

"Well, but now I add two sons and seven daughters, and a 
servant for each, that will make twenty; so we have the 
fifth part already." Johnson. "Very true. You get at 
twenty pretty readily ; but you will not so easily get further 
on. We grow to five feet pretty readily ; but it is not so easy 5 
to grow to seven." 

I expressed a wish to have the arguments for Christianity 
always in readiness. Johnson. "Sir, you cannot answer all 
objections. You have demonstration for a First Cause: you 
see he must be good as well as powerful. Yet you have 10 
against this, what is very certain, the unhappiness of human 
life. This, however, gives us reason to hope for a future state 
of compensation, that there may be a perfect system." 

MusGpAVE. "A temporary poem always entertains." 
Johnson. "So does an account of the criminals hanged 15 
yesterday entertain us." 

He proceeded : — "Demosthenes Taylor, as he was called, 
(that is, the Editor of Demosthenes) was the most silent man, 
the merest statue of a man that I have ever seen. I once 
dined in company with him, and all he said during the whole 20 
time was no more than Richard." 

Mrs. Cholmondeley exhibited some lively sallies of hyper- 
bolical compliments to Johnson. He answered her somewhat 
in the style of the hero of a romance, " Madam, you crown 
me with unfading laurels." 25 

Johnson. "A pamphlet is understood in common language 
to mean prose. We understand what is most general, and 
we name what is less frequent." 

We talked of a lady's verses on Ireland. Johnson. "I 
have seen a translation from Horace, by one of her daugh- 30 
ters." Miss Reynolds. " And how was it, Sir ? " Johnson. 
"Why, very well for a young Miss's verses ; — that is to say, 
compared with excellence, nothing; but, very well, for the 
person who wrote them. I am vexed at being shewn verses 
in that manner." Miss Reynolds. "But if they should 35 
be good, why not give them hearty praise?" Johnson. 
"Why, Madam, because I have not then got the better of 



236 

my had humour from having been shewn them. Nobody 
has a right to put another under such a difficulty, that he 
must either hurt the person by telling the truth, or hurt him- 
self by telling what is not true. Therefore the man, who is 
5 asked by an authour what he thinks of his work, is put to the 
torture, and is not obliged to speak the truth; this au- 
thour, when mankind are hunting him with a cannister at 
his tail, can say, ' I would not have published, had not John- 
son, or Reynolds, or Musgrave, or some other good judge com- 

10 mended the work/ Both Goldsmith's comedies were once re- 
fused. His ' Vicar of Wakefield ' I myself did not think would 
have had much success. It was written and sold to a book- 
seller, before his ' Traveller ' ; but published after ; so little 
expectation had the bookseller from it. Had it been sold 

15 after the ' Traveller/ he might have had twice as much money 
for it, though sixty guineas was no mean price." Sik Joshua 
Reynolds. " ' The Beggar's Opera ' affords a proof how 
strangely people will differ in opinion about a literary perform- 
ance. Burke thinks it has no merit." Johnson. "Itwasre- 

20 fused by one of the houses ; but I should have thought it would 
succeed, not from any great excellence in the writing, but from 
the novelty, and the general spirit and gaiety of the piece." 

"Cave used to sell ten thousand of ' The Gentleman's Mag- 
azine ' ; yet such was then his minute attention and anxiety 

25 that the sale should not suffer the smallest decrease, that he 
would name a particular person who he heard had talked of 
leaving off the Magazine, and would say, 'Let us have some- 
thing good next month.'" 

It was observed, that avarice was inherent in some dis- 

30 positions. Johnson. "No man was born a miser, because 
no man was born to possession. Every man is born cupidus 
— desirous of getting ; but not avarus — desirous of keeping. 
All the world have called an avaricious man a miser, be- 
cause he is miserable. No, Sir, a man who both spends 

35 and saves money is the happiest man, because he has both 
enjoyments." 
The conversation having turned on Bon-Mots, he quoted, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 237 

from one of the Ana, an exquisite instance of flattery in a 
maid of honour in France, who being asked by the Queen 
what o'clock it was, answered, " What your Majesty pleases." 
He admitted that Mr. Burke's classical pun upon Mr. Wilkes's 
being carried on the shoulders of the mob, 5 

" numerisque fertur 

Lege solutus," ° 
was admirable. 

He observed, "A man cannot with propriety speak of 
himself, except he relates simple facts ; he cannot be sure he 10 
is wise, or that he has any other excellence. Then, all cen- 
sure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to shew 
how much he can spare. It has all the invidiousness of self- 
praise, and all the reproach of falsehood." 

We stopped first at the bottom of Hedge-lane, into which 15 
he went to leave a letter, "with good news for a poor man in 
distress," as he told me. He often resembled Lady Boling- 
broke's lively description of Pope : that "he was un politique 
aux choux ° et aux raves." He would say, "I dine to-day in 
Grosvenor-square ; " this might be with a Duke ; or, perhaps, 20 
"I dine to-day at the other end of the town:" or, "A gentle- 
man of great eminence called on me yesterday." — He 
loved thus to keep things floating in conjecture : Omne ig- 
notum pro magnifico est. We stopped again at Wirgman's, 
the well-known toy-shop, in St. James's-Street, to which he 25 
had been directed, and could not find it at first; and said, 
"To direct one only to a corner shop is toying with one," 
a play upon the word toy ; the first time that I knew him stoop 
to such sport. He sent for me to come out of the coach, and 
help him to choose a pair of silver buckles, as those he had 30 
were too small. Probably this alteration in dress had been 
suggested by Mrs. Thrale, by associating with whom, his 
external appearance was much improved. He got better 
cloaths ; and the dark colour, from which he never deviated, 
was enlivened by metal buttons. His wigs, too, were much 35 
better ; and during their travels in France, he was furnished 
with a Paris-made wig, of handsome construction. This 



238 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

choosing of silver buckles was a negociation : "Sir, (said he,) 
I will not have the ridiculous large ones now in fashion ; and 
I will give no more than a guinea for a pair." Boswell. "I 
was this morning in Ridley's shop, Sir; and was told, that 
5 the collection called Johnsoniana has sold very much." 
Johnson. " Yet the ' Journey to the Hebrides ' has not had 
a great sale." Boswell. "That is strange." Johnson. 
"Yes, Sir ; for in that book I have told the world a great deal 
that they did not know before." 

10 Boswell. "I drank chocolate, Sir, this morning with Mr. 
Eld ; and, to my no small surprize, found him to be a Staf- 
fordshire Whig, a being which I did not believe had existed." 
Johnson. "Sir, there are rascals in all countries. I have 
always said, the first Whig was the Devil." Boswell. "He 

15 certainly was, Sir. The Devil was impatient of subordina- 
tion ; he was the first who resisted power : 

1 Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.' " 

Johnson. "Mutual cowardice keeps us in peace. Were 
one-half of mankind brave, and one-half cowards, the brave 

20 would be always beating the cowards. Were all brave, they 
would lead a very uneasy life; all would be continually 
fighting : but being all cowards, we go on very well." 

" Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not 
say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Sometimes 

25 it does. But the danger is, that while a man grows better 
pleased with himself, he may be growing less pleasing to 
others. Nay, Sir, conversation is the key : wine is a 
pick-lock, which forces open the box, and injures it." 
Boswell. "The great difficulty of resisting wine is from 

30 benevolence. For instance, a good worthy man asks you to 
taste his wine, which he has had twenty years in his cellar." 
Johnson. "Sir, all this notion about benevolence arises 
from a man's imagining himself to be of more importance to 
others, than he really is. And as for the good worthy man ; 

35 how do you know he is good and worthy? No good and 
worthy man will insist upon another man's drinking wine. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 239 

As to the wine twenty years in the cellar, — of ten men, three 
say this, merely because they must say something ; three are 
telling a lie, when they say they have had the wine twenty 
years ; — three would rather save the wine ; — one, perhaps, 
cares: but yet we must do justice to wine; we must allow it 5 
the power it possesses. To make a man pleased with him- 
self, let me tell you, is doing a very great thing." Sir 
Joshua Reynolds. "But to please one's company is a 
strong motive." Johnson, (who, from drinking only water, 
supposed every body who drank wine to be elevated,) "Iio 
won't argue any more with you, Sir. You are too far gone." 
Sir Joshua. "I should have thought so indeed, Sir, had I 
made such a speech as you have now done." Johnson. 
(drawing himself in, and, I really thought blushing,) "Nay, 
don't be angry. I did not mean to offend you." Sir Joshua. 15 
" The pleasure of drinking wine is so connected with pleasing 
your company, that altogether there is something of social 
goodness in it." Johnson. "Sir, this is only saying the 
same thing over again." Sir Joshua. "No, this is new." 
Johnson. "You put it in new words, but it is an old thought. 20 
This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mis- 
take words for thoughts." Boswell. "I think it is a new 
thought; at least, it is in a new attitude." Johnson. "Nay, 
Sir, it is only in a new coat ; or an old coat with a new facing. 
(Then laughing heartily.) It is the old dog in a new doublet. 25 
— An extraordinary instance, however, may occur where a 
man's patron will do nothing for him, unless he will drink; 
there may be a good reason for drinking." I mentioned a 
nobleman, who was really uneasy, if his company would 
not drink hard. "Supposing I should be tete-a-tete with 30 
him at table." Johnson. "Sir, there is no more reason 
for your drinking with him, than his being sober with you." 

General Paoli said he did not imagine Homer's poetry was 
so ancient as is supposed, because he ascribes to a Greek 
colony ° circumstances of refinement not found in Greece 35 
itself at a later period, when Thucydides wrote. Johnson. 
" I am for the antiquity of Homer, and think that a Grecian 



240 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

colony by being nearer Persia might be more refined than 
the mother country." 

I dined with him at Mr. Allan Ramsay's. Before Johnson 
came we talked a good deal of him. I said I worshipped him. 

5 Robertson. "But some of you spoil him: you should not 
worship him; you should worship no man." Boswell. "I 
cannot help worshipping him, he is so much superiour to other 
men." Robertson. "In criticism, and in wit and conver- 
sation, he is no doubt very excellent ; but in other respects he 

10 is not above other men; he will believe any thing, and will 
strenuously defend the most minute circumstance connected 
with the Church of England." Xo sooner did he, of whom 
we had been thus talking so easily, arrive, than we were all 
as quiet as a school upon the entrance of the head-master. 

15 Ramsay. "I suppose Homer's ' Iliad ' to be a collection of 
pieces which had been written before his time. I should like 
to see a translation of it in poetical prose, like the book of 
Ruth or Job." Robertson. "Would you, Dr. Johnson, 
who are master of the English language, but try your hand 

20 upon a part of it." Johnson. "Sir, you could not read it 
without the pleasure of verse." 

Dr. Robertson expatiated on the character of a certain 
nobleman ; that he would sit in company quite sluggish, while 
there was nothing to call forth his intellectual' vigour ; but the 

25 moment that any important subject was started, he would 
shew his extraordinary talents with the most powerful 
ability and animation. Johnson. "Yet this man cut his 
own throat. The true strong and sound mind is the mind that 
can embrace equally great things and small. Now I am told 

30 the King of Prussia will say to a servant, ' Bring me a bottle 
of such a wine, which came in such a year ; it lies in such a 
corner of the cellars.' I would have a man great in great 
things, and elegant in little things." He said to me after- 
wards, when we were by ourselves, "Robertson was in a 

35 mighty romantick humour, he talked of one he did not know, 
but I downed him with the King of Prussia." 1 — "Yes, Sir, 
(said I,) you threw a bottle at his head." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 241 

Next day, Thursday, April 30, I found him at home by 
himself. Johnson. "Well, Sir, Ramsay gave us a splendid 
dinner. I love Ramsay. You will not find a man in whose 
conversation there is more instruction, more information, and 
more elegance, than in Ramsay's/' Boswell. "What I 5 
admire in Ramsay, is his continuing to be so young." John- 
son. "Why, yes, Sir; it is to be admired. I value myself 
upon this, that there is nothing of the old man in my conver- 
sation. I am now sixty-eight, and I have no more of it than 
at twenty-eight." Boswell. "But, Sir, would not you 10 
wish to know old age ? I mean, Sir, the Sphinx's descrip- 
tion of it ; — morning, noon, and night. I would know 
night, as well as morning and noon." Johnson. "What, 
Sir, would you know what it is to feel the evils of- old age ? 
Would you have the gout ? Would you have decrepitude ? " 15 
— Seeing him heated, I would not argue any farther. John- 
son. "Mrs. Thrale's mother said of me what nattered me 
much. A clergyman was complaining of want of society in the 
country where he lived ; and said, ' They talk of runts ' (that 
is, young cows). 'Sir, (said Mrs. Salusbury,) Mr. Johnson 20 
would learn to talk of runts : ' ° meaning that I was a man who 
would make the most of my situation, whatever it was." 
He added, "I think myself a very polite man." 

There were several people at Sir Joshua Reynolds's by no 
means of the Johnsonian school ; so that less attention was 25 
paid to Mm than usual, which put him out of humour ; and 
upon some imaginary offence from me, he attacked me with 
such rudeness, that I was vexed and angry, because it gave 
those persons an opportunity of enlarging upon his supposed 
ferocity, and ill-treatment of his best friends. I was so 30 
much hurt, and had my pride so much roused, that I kept 
away from him for a week ; and perhaps, might have kept 
away much longer, nay, gone to Scotland without seeing him 
again, had not we fortunately met and been reconciled. 

When we were by ourselves, he drew his chair near to mine, 35 
and said in a tone of conciliating courtesy, " Well, how have 
you done?" Boswell. "Sir, you have made me very 

R 



242 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

uneasy by your behaviour to me when we last were at Six 
Joshua Reynolds's. You know, my dear Sir, no man has a 
greater respect and affection for you, or would sooner go to the 
end of the world to serve you. Now to treat me so — " He 
5 insisted that I had interrupted him, which I assured him was 
not the case ; and proceeded — ' 'But why treat me so before 
people who neither love you nor me?" Johnson. "Well, I 
am sony for it. I'll make it up to you twenty different ways, 
as you please." Boswell. "I said to-day to Sir Joshua, 

10 when he observed that you tossed me sometimes — I don't 
care how often, or how high he tosses me, when only friends 
are present, for then I fall upon soft ground : but I do not 
like falling on stones, which is the case when enemies are 
present. — I think this a pretty good image, Sir." Johnson. 

15 "Sir, it is one of the happiest I have ever heard." 

Boswell. "Do you think, Sir, it is always culpable to 
laugh at a man to his face?" Johnson. "Why, Sir, that 
depends upon the man and the thing. If it is a slight man, 
and a slight thing, you may ; for you take nothing valuable 

20 from him." 

Mr. Langton having repeated the anecdote of Addison 
having distinguished between his powers in conversation and 
in writing, by saying "I have only nine-pence in my pocket; 
but I can draw for a thousand pounds;" — Johnson. "He 

25 had not that retort ready, Sir; he had prepared it before- 
hand." Langton: (turning to me.) "A fine surmise. Set 
a thief to- catch a thief." 

Johnson called the East-Indians barbarians. Boswell. 
"You will except the Chinese, Sir ?" Johnson. "No, Sir." 

30 Boswell. "Have they not arts ? " Johnson. "They have 
pottery. Sir, they have not an alphabet. They have not 
been able to form what all other nations have formed. Their 
language is only more difficult from its rudeness ; as there is 
more labour in hewing down a tree with a stone than with an 

35 axe." 

Johnson. " Lord Karnes, in treating of severity of punish- 
ment, mentions that of Madame Lapouchin, in Russia, but 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 243 

he does not give it fairly. He stops where it is said that the 
spectators thought her innocent, and leaves out what follows ; 
that she nevertheless was guilty. Now this is being as cul- 
pable as one can conceive, to misrepresent fact in a book, and 
for what motive ? It is like one of those lies which people 5 
tell, one cannot see why. The woman's life was spared; 
and no punishment was too great for the favourite of an 
Empress who had conspired to dethrone her mistress." 
Boswell. "He was only giving a picture of the lady in 
her sufferings." Johnson. "Nay, don't endeavour to palli- 10 
ate this. Guilt is a principal feature in the picture. Karnes 
is puzzled with a question that puzzled me when I was a 
very young man. Why is it that the interest of money is 
lower, when money is plentiful ? A lady explained it to me. 
'It is (said she) because when money is plentiful there are 15 
so many more who have money to lend, that they bid down 
one another.'" Boswell. "This must have been an ex- 
traordinary lady who instructed you, Sir. May I ask who 
she was?" Johnson. "Molly Aston, Sir, the sister of 
those ladies with whom you dined at Lichfield. — I shall be 20 
at home to-morrow." Boswell. "Then let us dine by our- 
selves at the Mitre, to keep up the old custom, 'the custom 
of the manor,' custom of the Mitre." Johnson. "Sir, so 
it shall be." 

There was, on these occasions, a little circumstance of kind 25 
attention to Mrs. Williams, which must not be omitted. 
Before coming out, and leaving her to dine alone, he gave her 
her choice of a chicken, a sweetbread, or any other little nice 
thing, which was carefully sent to her from the tavern ready- 
drest. 30 

He expressed much wonder at the curious formation of the 
bat, a mouse with wings ; saying, that it was almost as strange 
a thing in physiology, as if the fabulous dragon could be seen. 

I mentioned Lord Marchmont as one who could tell him 
a great deal about Pope, — "Sir, he will tell me nothing." I 35 
had the honour of being known to his Lordship, and applied 
to him of myself, without being commissioned by Johnson. 



244 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

His Lordship however asked, "Will he write the Lives of the 
Poets impartially ? He was the first that brought Whig and 
Tory into a Dictionary. And what do you think of his defi- 
nition of Excise ? Do you know the history of his aversion to 
5 the word transpire f " Then taking down the folio Dictionary : 
"To escape from secrecy to notice; a sense lately innovated 
from France, without necessity/' The truth was, Lord 
Bolingbroke, who left the Jacobites, first used it ; therefore, 
it was to be condemned. I afterwards put the question to 

10 Johnson: "Why, Sir, (said he,) get abroad" Boswell. 
"That, Sir, is using two words." Johnson. "Sir, there is no 
end of this. You may as well insist to have a word for old 
age." Boswell. "Well, Sir, Senectus." Johnson. "Nay, 
Sir, to insist always that there should be one word to express 

15 a thing in English, because there is one in another language, 
is to change the language." 

I proposed to Lord Marchmont, that he should revise 
Johnson's Life of Pope: "So (said his Lordship,) you would 
put me in a dangerous situation. You know he knocked down 

20 Osborne, the bookseller." 

I hastened down to Mr. Thrale's at Streatham, where he 
now was, that I might ensure his being at home next day ; 
and after dinner, when I thought he would receive the good 
news in the best humour, I announced it eagerly: "I have 

25 been at work for you to-day, Sir. I have been with Lord 
Marchmont. He bade me tell you, he has a great respect 
for you, and will call on you to-morrow, at one o'clock, 
and communicate all he knows about Pope." — Here I 
paused, in full expectation that he would be pleased. 

30 Johnson. "I shall not be in town to-morrow. I don't 
care to know about Pope." Mrs. Thrale : (surprised as I 
was, and a little angry.) "I suppose, Sir, Mr. Boswell 
thought, that as you are to write Pope's Life, you would wish 
to know about him." Johnson. "Wish! why yes. If it 

35 rained knowledge, I'd hold out my hand ; but I would not 
give myself the trouble to go in quest of it." There was no 
arguing with him at the moment. Some time afterwards he 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 245 

said, "Lord Marchmont will call on me, and then I shall call 
on Lord Marchmont." Mrs. Thrale was uneasy at his un- 
accountable caprice ; and told me, that if I did not take care 
to bring about a meeting between Lord Marchmont and him, 
it would never take place. But it must not be erroneously 5 
supposed that he was generally thus peevish. It will be 
seen that in the following year he had a very agreeable in- 
terview with Lord Marchmont, at his Lordship's house. 

Mrs. Thrale told us, that Pope had originally in his " Uni- 
versal Prayer," 10 

11 Can sins of moment claim the rod 
Of everlasting fires ? 
And that offend great Nature's God, 
Which Nature's self inspires ? " 

and Dr. Johnson observed, "it had been borrowed from Gua- 15 
rini" Mrs. Thrale. " ' Sins of moment ! is a faulty expres- 
sion; for its true import is momentous, which cannot be 
intended. " Johnson. "It must have been written 'of 
moments.' Of moment, is momentous; of moments, momentary. 
I warrant you, however, Pope wrote this stanza, and some 20 
friend struck it out. Boileau wrote some such thing, and 
Arnaud struck it out, saying, ' Vous gagnerez deux ou trois 
impies, et perdrex je ne scats combien des honnettes gens.' 
These fellows want to say a daring thing, and don't know 
how to go about it. Mere poets know no more of funda-25 
mental principles than — ." Here he was interrupted some- 
how. Mrs. Thrale mentioned Dryden. Johnson. "He 
puzzled himself about predestination. — How foolish was it 
in Pope to give all his friendship to lords, who thought 
they honoured him by being with him." 30 

He said of one of our friends, " He is ruining himself without 
pleasure. A man who loses at play, or who runs out his 
fortune at court, makes his estate less, in hopes of' making it 
bigger : (I am sure of this word, which was often used by him :) 
but it is a sad thing to pass through the quagmire of parsi- 35 
mony, to the gulph of ruin. To pass over the flowery path of 
extravagance, is very well." 



246 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Amongst the numerous prints pasted on the walls of the 
dining-room at Streatham, was Hogarth's "Modern Mid- 
night Conversation." I asked him what he knew of Parson 
Ford, who makes a conspicuous figure in the riotous group. 
5 Johnson. "Sir, he was my acquaintance and relation, my 
mother's nephew. Boswell. "Was there not a story of 
his ghost having appeared?" Johnson. "Sir, it was be- 
lieved. A waiter at the Hummums, in which house Ford 
died, had been absent for some time, and returned, not know- 

10 ing that Ford was dead. Going down to the cellar, according 
to the story, he met him ; going down again, he met him a 
second time. When he came up he asked some of the people 
of the house what Ford could be doing there. They told him 
Ford was dead. The waiter took a fever, in which he lay 

15 for some time. When he recovered, he said he had a message 
to deliver to some women from Ford ; but he was not to tell 
what, or to whom. He walked out; he was followed; but 
somewhere about St. Paul's they lost him. He came back, 
and said he had delivered the message, and the women ex- 

20 claimed, ' Then we are all undone ! ' If the message to the 
women, and their behaviour upon it, were true as related, 
there was something supernatural. That rests upon his 
word ; and there it remains." 

Johnson. "Will you not allow, Sir, that vice does not 

25 hurt a man's character so as to obstruct his prosperity in life, 
when you know that Clive was loaded with wealth and hon- 
ours; a man who had acquired his fortune by such crimes, 
that his consciousness of them impelled him to cut his own 
throat ? " Boswell. "Dr. Robertson said, he cut his throat 

30 because of little things not being sufficient to move his great 
mind." Johnson, (very angry.) "Nay, Sir, what stuff is 
this ? You had no more this opinion after Robertson said it, 
than before. I know nothing more offensive than repeating 
what one knows to be foolish things, by way of continuing a 

35 dispute, to see what a man will answer, — to make him your 
butt!" (angrier still.) Boswell. "My dear Sir, I had no 
such intention. Might not this nobleman have felt every 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 247 

thing ' weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/ as Hamlet says?" 
Johnson. "Nay, if you are to bring in gabble, I'll talk no 
more. I will not, upon my honour." — My readers will de- 
cide upon this dispute. 

Looking at Messrs. Billy's splendid edition of Lord Chester- 5 
field's miscellaneous works, he laughed, and said, "Here 
are now two speeches ascribed to him, both of which were 
written by me : and the best of it is, they have found out 
that one of them is like Demosthenes, and the other like 
Cicero." 10 

Johnson. " What I gained by being in France was, learn- 
ing to be better satisfied with my own country. Time may 
be employed to more advantage from nineteen to twenty- 
four, almost in any way than in travelling ; but how much 
more would a young man improve were he to study during 15 
those years. How little does travelling supply to the con- 
versation of any man who has travelled; how little to 

Beauclerk?" Boswell. "What say you to Lord ?" 

Johnson. "I never but once heard him talk of what he 
had seen, and that was of a large serpent in one of the 20 
Pyramids of Egypt." Boswell. "Well, I happened to hear 
him tell the same thing, which made me mention him." 

He was at all times watchful to suppress the vulgar cant 
against the manners of the great; "High people, Sir, (said 
he,) are the best ; take a hundred ladies of quality, you'll find 25 
them better wives, better mothers, more willing to sacrifice 
their own pleasures to their children, than a hundred other 
women. Tradeswomen (I mean the wives of tradesmen) in 
the city, who are worth from ten to fifteen thousand pounds, 
are the worst creatures upon the earth, grossly ignorant, and 30 
thinking viciousness fashionable." 

The disaster of General Burgoyne's army was N then the 
common topick of conversation. It was asked why piling 
their arms was insisted upon as a matter of such consequence, 
when it seemed to be a circumstance so inconsiderable in 35 
itself. Johnson. "Why, Sir, a French authour says, c Il ij a 
beaucowp de puerilites dans la guerre.' " 



248 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

He said "Candide" he thought had more power in it than 
any thing that Voltaire had written. 

He said, "The lyrical part of Horace never can be perfectly 
translated." 
5 He said, "Lord Chatham was a Dictator; he possessed the 
power of putting the State in motion ; now there is no power, 
all order is relaxed. Sir, when we are weary of this relaxa- 
tion the City of London will appoint its Mayors again by 
seniority." ° Boswell. "But is not that taking a mere 

10 chance for having a good or a bad Mayor?" Johnson. 
"Yes, Sir ; but the evil of competition is greater than that of 
the worst Mayor that can come; besides, there is no more 
reason to suppose that the choice of a rabble will be right, 
than that chance will be right." 

15 He gave me some salutary counsel, and recommended 
vigorous resolution against any deviation from moral duty. 
Boswell : " But you would not have me to bind myself by a 
solemn obligation ? " Johnson, (much agitated). "What! 
a vow — 0, no, Sir, a vow is a horrible thing, it is a snare 

20 for sin. The man who cannot go to heaven without a vow 
— may go — " Here, standing erect, in the middle of his 
library, and rolling grand, his pause was truly a curious 
compound of the solemn and the ludicrous ; he half -whistled 
in his usual way, when pleasant, and he paused, as if checked 

25 by religious awe. — Methought he would have added — to 
Hell — but was restrained. I humoured the dilemma. 
"What! Sir, (said I,) 'In ccelum jusseris ibitV alluding to 
his imitation of it, 

' And bid him go to Hell, to Hell he goes.' " 

30 Johnson. " Education in England has been in danger of 
being hurt by two of its greatest men, Milton and Locke. 
Milton's plan is impracticable, and I suppose has never been 
tried. Locke's gives too much to one side, and too little 
to the other; it gives too little to literature." 

35 Mr. Langton has been pleased, at my request, to favour me 
with some particulars of Dr. Johnson's visit to Warley-camp. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 249 

" He sate, with a patient degree of attention, to observe the 
proceedings of a regimental court-martial ; and one night, as 
late as at eleven o'clock, he accompanied the Major of the 
regiment in going the Rounds, where he might observe the 
forms of visiting the guards, for seeing that they and their 5 
sentries are ready in their duty on their several posts." 

To Boswell. 

" If general approbation will add ary thing to your enjoy- 
ment, I can tell you that I have heard you mentioned as a 
man whom every body likes. I think life has little more to give. 10 

"Langton talks of making more contractions of his ex- 
pence. With the common deficience of advisers, we have- 
not shown him how to do right. 

"I wish you would a little correct or restrain your imagin- 
ation, and imagine that happiness, such as life admits, may be 15 
had at other places as well as London. Without asserting 
Stoicism, it may be said, that it is our business to exempt 
ourselves as much as we can from the power of external ' 
things. There is but one solid basis of happiness : and that is, 
the reasonable hope of a happy futurity. This may be had 20 
everywhere. 

"Mrs. Thrale, poor thing, has a daughter. Mr. Thrale 
dislikes the times, like the rest of us. Mrs. Williams is sick ; 
Mrs. Desmoulins is poor. I have miserable nights. Nobody 
is well but Mr. Levett. Sam. Johnson." 25 

He has sometimes suffered me to talk jocularly of his group 
of females, and call them his Seraglio. He thus mentions 
them, together with honest Levett, in one of his letters to 
Mrs. Thrale: "Williams hates every body; Levett hates 
Desmoulins, and does not love Williams ; Desmoulins hates 30 
them both ; Poll ° loves none of them." 

"The Club (he wrote me,) is to meet with the parliament ; we 
talk of electing Banks, the traveller; he will be a reputable 
member." 

Johnson expressed great satisfaction at the publication of 35 
the " Discourses to the Royal Academy," by Sir Joshua Rey- 



250 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

nolds, whom he always considered as one of his literary school. 
The authour received from the Empress of Russia ° a gold 
snuff-box, adorned with her profile in has relief, set in diamonds ; 
and containing a slip of paper, on which are written with her 
5 Imperial Majesty's own hand, the following words: Pour le 
Chevalier Reynolds en temoignage du contentement que j'ai res- 
sentie a la lecture de ses excellent discours sur la peinture." 

At a late hour, I found Dr. Johnson sitting over his tea, 
attended by Mrs. Desmoulins, Mr. Levett, and a clergyman, 

10 who had come to submit some poetical pieces to his revision. 
The authour asked him bluntly, "If upon the whole it was 
a good translation?" Johnson, whose regard for truth was 
uncommonly strict, seemed to be puzzled for a moment : with 
exquisite address he evaded the question thus, "Sir, I do not 

15 say that it may not be made a very good translation." A 
printed Ode to the Warlike Genius of Britain came next in 
review ; the bard was a lank, bony figure, with short black 
hair; he was writhing himself in agitation, while Johnson 
read, and shewing his teeth in a grin of earnestness, exclaimed 

20 in broken sentences, and in a keen sharp tone, "Is that poetry, 
Sir? — Is it Pindar?" Johnson. "Why, Sir, there is 
here a great deal of what is called poetry. Here is an er- 
rour, Sir; you have made Genius feminine." — "Palpable, 
Sir ; (cried the enthusiast) I know it. But it was a compli- 

25ment to the Duchess of Devonshire, with which her Grace 
was pleased. She is walking across Coxheath, in the military 
uniform, and I suppose her to be the Genius of Britain." 
Johnson. "Sir, you are giving a reason for it ; but that will 
not make it right. You may have a reason why two and 

30 two should make five ; but they will still make but four." 
He said he expected to be attacked on account of his " Lives 
of the Poets. " "However (said he,) I would rather be attacked 
than unnoticed. For the worst tiling you can do to an au- 
thour is to be silent as to his works. An assault upon a town 

35 is a bad thing ; but starving it is still worse ; an assault may 
be unsuccessful, you may have more men killed than you kill ; 
but if you starve the town, you are sure of victory." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 251 

Johnson. "Sir, one may be so much a man of the world, 
as to be nothing in the world. I remember a passage in Gold- - 
smith's 'Vicar of Wakefield/ which he was afterwards fool 
enough to expunge : ' I do not love a man who is zealous for 
nothing/ " Boswell. " That was a fine passage." John- 5 
son. "Yes, Sir: there was another fine passage too, which 
he struck out: 'When I was a young man, being anxious to 
distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. 
But I soon gave this over ; for, I found that generally what 
was new was false/" I said I did not like to sit with people 10 
of whom I had not a good opinion. Johnson. "But you 
must not indulge your delicacy too much; or you will be a 
tete-a-tete man all your life." 

Talking of the wonderful concealment of the authour of the 
celebrated letters signed Junius; he said, "I should have be- 15 
lieved Burke to be Junius, because I know no man but Burke 
who is capable of writing these letters; but Burke spon- 
taneously denied it to me. The case would have been differ- 
ent, had I asked him if he was the authour ; a man so ques- 
tioned, as to an anonymous publication, may think he has 20 
a right to deny it." 

He maintained that a father had no right to control the 
inclinations of his daughters in marriage. 

When I confessed that I had spent a whole night in playing 
at cards, and that I could not look back on it with satisfac- 25 
tion: he mildly said, "Alas, Sir, on how few things can we 
look back with satisfaction." 

He said, "To a man whose pleasure is intellectual, London 
is the place. And there is no place where economy can be 
so well practised as in London. You cannot play tricks 30 
with your fortune in a small place ; you must make an uni- 
form appearance. Here a lady may have well-furnished 
apartments, and elegant dress, without any meat in her 
kitchen." He himself was at all times sensible of its being, 
comparatively speaking, a heaven upon earth. Mr. 35 
Burke, whose orderly and amiable domestick habits might 
make the eye of observation less irksome to him than 



252 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

to most men, said once, " Though I have the honour to 
represent Bristol, I should not like to live there ; I should be 
obliged to be so much upon my good behaviour." In London, 
a man's own house is truly his castle, in which he can be in 
5 perfect safety from intrusion whenever he pleases. I never 
shall forget how well this was expressed by Mr. Meynell : 
"The chief advantage of London (said he,) is that a man is 
always so near his burrow." 

He said of one of his old acquaintances, "He is very fit for 

10 a travelling governour. There would be no danger that 
a young gentleman should catch his manner; for it is 
so very bad, that it must be avoided. In that respect 
he would be like the drunken Helot. Sir, he has the 
most inverted understanding of any man whom I have ever 

15 known. " 

Good-Friday, I visited him in the morning as usual. We in- 
sensibly fell into a train of ridicule upon the foibles of one of 
our friends. I, by way of a check, quoted from " The Govern- 
ment of the Tongue." It happened that the subject of the 

20 sermon to-day by Dr. Burrows, the rector of St. Clement 
Danes, was the certainty that at the last day we must give 
an account of "the deeds done in the body;" and amongst 
various acts of culpability he mentioned evil-speaking. As 
we were moving slowly along in the crowd from church, 

25 Johnson jogged my elbow, and said, "Did you attend to the 
sermon?" — "Yes, Sir, (said I,) it was very applicable to 
us" He, however, stood upon the defensive. "Why, Sir, 
the sense of ridicule is given us, and may be lawfully used. 
The authour of ' The Government of the Tongue • would have 

30 us treat all men alike." 

In the interval between morning and evening service, he 
endeavoured to employ himself earnestly in devotional exer- 
cise; and gave me " Les Pensees de Paschal" that I might 
not interrupt him. I preserve the book with reverence. 

35 On Saturday, I found him sitting in Mrs. Williams's room, 
with a son of the second Lord Southwell. The table had a 
singular appearance, being covered with a heterogeneous 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 253 

assemblage of oysters and porter for his company, and tea 
for himself. 

Johnson. " No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys, port for 
men ; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink 
brandy. Brandy will do soonest for a man what drinking can 5 
do for him." I reminded him how heartily he and I used 
to drink wine together, when we were first acquainted ; and 
how I used to have a head-ache after sitting up with him. 
"Nay, Sir, it was not the wine that made your head ache, 
but the sense that I put into it." Boswell. "What, 10 
Sir! will sense make the head ache?" Johnson. "Yes, 
Sir, (with a smile) when it is not used to it." No man who 
has a true relish of pleasantry could be offended at this. I 
used to say, that as he had given me a thousand pounds in 
praise, he had a good right now and then to take a guinea 15 
from me. 

Lord Graham, while he praised the beauty of Loch-Lomond, 
on the banks of which is his family seat, complained of the 
climate, and said he could not bear it. Johnson. "Nay, my 
Lord, don't talk so : you may bear it well enough. Your 20 
ancestors have borne it more years than I can tell," a hand- 
some compliment to the antiquity of the House of Montrose. 
Johnson was very courteous to Lady Margaret Macdonald. 
"Madam, (said he,) when I was in the Isle of Sky, I heard of 
the people running to take the stones off the road, lest Lady 25 
Margaret's horse should stumble." 

Lord Graham commended a man of extraordinary talents ; 
and added, that he had a great love of liberty. Johnson. 
"He is young, my Lord ; (looking to his Lordship with an arch 
smile) all boys love liberty, till experience convinces them they 30 
are not so fit to govern themselves as they imagined. We are 
all agreed as to our own liberty ; we would have as much of 
it as we can get ; but we are not agreed as to the liberty of 
others : for in proportion as we take, others must lose. I 
believe we hardly wish that the mob should have liberty to 35 
govern us. When that was the case some time ago, no man 
was at liberty not to have candles in his windows." 



254 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"I am always for getting a boy forward in his learning ; for 

that is a sure good. I would let him at first read any English 

book which happens to engage his attention ; because you have 

done a great deal, when 3^ou have brought him to have enter- 

5 tainment from a book. Hell get better books afterwards." 

"To be contradicted, in order to force you to talk is mighty 

unpleasing. You shine, indeed ; but it is by being ground" 

Mr. Wilkes had attacked Garrick to me, as a man who had 

no friend. Johnson. " I believe he is right, Sir. 01 <f>[\oi, ov 

10 4>l\os — He had friends, but no friend. Garrick was so dif- 
fused, he had no man to whom he wished to unbosom himself. 
He found people always ready to applaud him, and that always 
for the same thing : so he saw life with great uniformity." 
I took upon me, for once, to fight with Goliath's weapons, and 

15 play the sophist. — Garrick did not need a friend, as he got 
from every body all he wanted. What is a friend ? One who 
supports you and comforts you, while others do not. Friend- 
ship, you know, Sir, is the cordial drop, 'to make the nauseous 
draught of life go down : ' but if the draught be not nauseous, 

20 if it be all sweet, there is no occasion for that drop." John- 
son. "Many men would not be content to five so. I hope 
I should not. They would wish to have an intimate friend, 
with whom they might compare minds, and cherish private 
virtues. Garrick was a very good man, the cheerfulest 

25 man of his age ; a decent fiver in a profession which is sup- 
posed to give indulgence to licentiousness; and a man who 
gave away, freely, money acquired by himself. He began the 
world with a great hunger for money ; the son of a half-pay 
officer, bred in a family whose study was to make four-pence 

30 do as much as others made four-pence halfpenny do. But, 
when he had got money, he was very liberal." Boswell. 
"You say, Sir, his death eclipsed the gaiety of nations." 
Johnson. "I could not have said more nor less. It is the 
truth; eclipsed, not extinguished; arid his death did eclipse; 

35 it was like a storm." Bosw t ell. "Did his gaiety extend 
further than his own nation ? " Johnson. "Why, Sir, some 
exaggeration must be allowed. Besides, nations may be said 



LL.D. 255 

— if we allow the Scotch to be a nation, and to have gaiety, 

— which they have not. You are an exception, though. 
Come, gentlemen, let us candidly admit that there is one 
Scotchman who is cheerful." 

I was in great pain with an inflamed foot. He brought 5 
Sir Joshua Reynolds. Their conversation, while they sat 
by my bedside, was the most pleasing opiate to pain that 
could have been administered. 

Johnson being now better disposed to obtain information 
concerning Pope than he was last year, sent by me to my Lord 10 
Marchmont, a present of his " Lives of the Poets," with a re- 
quest to have permission to wait on him ; and his Lordship, 
who had called on him twice, obligingly appointed Saturday, 
the first of May,. for receiving us. 

After drinking chocolate at General Paoli's, we proceeded 15 
to Lord Marchmont's. His Lordship met us at the door of 
his library, and said to Johnson, "I am not going to make an 
encomium upon myself, by telling you the high respect I have 
for you, Sir." The interview, which lasted about two hours, 
during which the Earl communicated his anecdotes of Pope, 20 
was as agreeable as I could have wished. 

To John Wesley. 

"Mr. Boswell, a gentleman who has been long known to 
me, is desirous of being known to you, and has asked this rec- 
ommendation, which I give him with great willingness, because, 25 
I think it very much to be wished that worthy and religious 
men should be acquainted with each other. Sam. Johnson." 

I did not write to Johnson, as usual, upon my return to my 
family; but tried how he would be affected by my silence. 

To Boswell. 30 

"What can possibly have happened, that keeps us two 
such strangers to each other ? I expected to have heard from 
you when you came home ; I expected afterwards. I went 



256 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LI.D. 

into the country, and returned ; and yet there is no letter from 
Mr. Boswell. No ill I hope has happened ; and if ill should 
happen, why should it be concealed from him who loves you ? 
Is it a fit of humour, that has disposed you to try who can 
5 hold out longest without writing ? If it be, you have the 
victory. But I am afraid of something bad ; set me free from 
my suspicions. Sam. Johnson." 

Dr. Johnson sometimes employed himself in chymistry, 
sometimes in watering and pruning a vine, sometimes in small 

10 experiments. 

I defended myself against his suspicion of me, "Pray, let 
us write frequently. A whim strikes me, that we should 
send off a sheet once a week, like a stage coach, whether it 
be full or not ; nay, though it should be empty. " I called at his 

15 house before he was up. He sent for me to his bedside, and 
with as much vivacity as if he had been in the gaiety of 
youth, called briskly, "Frank, go and get coffee, and let us 
breakfast in splendour." 

I consulted him as to the appointment of guardians to my 

20 children, in case of my death. "Sir, (said he,) do not appoint 
a number of guardians. When there are many, they trust one 
to another, and the business is neglected. I would advise 
you to choose only one; let him be a man of respectable 
character, who, for his own credit, will do what is right ; let 

25 him be a rich man, so that he may be under no temptation to 

take advantage ; and let him be a' man of business, who is 

used to conduct affairs with ability and expertness, to whom 

therefore, the execution of the trust will not be burdensome/ ' 

"A man had better have ten thousand pounds at the end 

SO of ten years passed in England, than twenty thousand pounds 
at the end of ten years passed in India, because you must com- 
pute what you give for money ; and a man who has lived ten 
years in India, has given up ten years of social comfort and all 
those advantages which arise from living in England. Lord 

35 Clive shewed at the door of his bed-chamber a large chest, 
which he said he had once had full of gold ; Brown observed, 
' I am glad you can bear it so near your bed-chamber/ " 



? 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 257 

We talked of the state of the poor in London. — Johnson. 
r Saunders Welch, the Justice, who was once High-Constable 
of Holborn, and had the best opportunities of knowing the 
state of the poor, told me that I under-rated the number, when 
I computed that twenty a week, that is, above a thousand a 5 
year, died of hunger; not absolutely of immediate hunger; 
but of the wasting and other diseases which are the conse- 
quences of hunger. This happens only in so large a place as 
London, where people are not known. What we are told 
about the great sums got by begging, is not true : the trade is 10 
overstocked. And, you may depend upon it, there are many 
who cannot get work. A particular kind of manufacture 
fails : Those who have been used to work at it, can, for some 
time, work at nothing else. You meet a man begging ; you 
charge him with idleness: he says, ( I am willing to labour. 15 
Will you give me work? ? — 'I cannot/ — 'Why then you 
have no right to charge me with idleness/ " 

To BOSWELL, FROM HUGH BLAIR. 

" Lord Bathurst told us, that 'The Essay on Man' was 
originally composed by Lord Bolingbroke in prose, and that 20 
Mr. Pope did no more than put it into verse. 

" Lord Bathurst said to me that part of the Iliad was 
translated by Mr. Pope in his house in the country ; and that 
in the morning when they assembled at breakfast, Mr. Pope 
used frequently to repeat, with great rapture, the Greek lines 25 
which he had been translating, and then to give them his 
version of them, and to compare them together." 

Boswell. "Why, Sir, do people play this trick which I 
observe now, when I look at your grate, putting the shovel 
against it to make the fire burn?" Johnson. "They play 30 
the trick, but it does not make the fire burn. There is a 
better ; (setting the poker perpendicularly up at right angles 
with the grate.) In days of superstition they thought, as it 
made a cross with the bars, it would drive away the witch." 

Boswell. "By associating with you, Sir, I am always 35 
s 



258 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

getting an accession of wisdom." Johnson. "Sir, be as wise 
as you can ; let a man be aliis Icetus, sapiens sibi : 

1 Though pleas' d to see the dolphins play, 
I mind my compass and my way.' 

5 You may be wise in your study in the morning, and gay in 
company at a tavern in the evening. Every man is to take 
care of his own wisdom and his own virtue, without minding 
too much what others think. " 

He said, "Dodsley first mentioned to me the scheme of an 

10 English Dictionary ; but I had long thought of it." Boswell. 
"You did not know what you were undertaking." Johnson. 
"Yes, Sir, I knew very well what I was undertaking, — and 
very well how to do it, — and have done it very well." Bos- 
well. " In your Preface you say, 'What would it avail me in 

15 this gloom of solitude V You have been agreeably mistaken." 
I prevailed on him to give me an exact list of his places of 
residence. 

I dined with Mm at Mr. Ramsay's, with Lord Xewhaven. A 
beautiful Miss Graham, a relation of his Lordship's, asked 

20 Dr. Johnson to hob or nob with her. He was flattered by 
such pleasing attention, and politely told her he never drank 
wine ; but if she would drink a glass of water, he was much at 
her service. She accepted. "Oho, Sir ! (said Lord Xewhaven,) 
you are caught." Johnson. "Nay, I do not see how I am 

25 caught; but if I am caught, I don't want to get free again. If 
I am caught, I hope to be kept." Then when the two glasses 
of water were brought, smiling placidly to the young lady, 
he said, "Madam, let us reciprocate." 

Lord Xewhaven and Johnson carried on an argument for 

30 some time, concerning the Middlesex election. Johnson 
said, "Parliament may be considered as bound by law, as a 
man is bound where there is nobody to tie the knot. As it is 
clear that the House of Commons may expel, and expel 
again and again, why not allow of the power to incapacitate 

35 for that parliament, rather than have a perpetual contest kept 
up between parliament and the people." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 259 

He observed, "The House of Commons was originally not 
a privilege of the people, but a check, for the Crown, on the 
House of Lords. I remember, Henry the Eighth wanted them 
to do something; they hesitated in the morning, but did it 
in the afternoon. He told them, 'It is well you did ; or half 5 
your heads should have been upon Temple-bar.' But the 
House of Commons is now no longer under the power of the 
Crown, and therefore must be bribed." He added, "I have no 
delight in talking of publick affairs." 

Johnson. "Whitefield did not draw attention by doing 10 
better than others, but by doing what was strange. I 
never treated WhitefiekTs ministry with contempt; I be- 
lieve he did good. He had devoted himself to the lower 
classes of mankind, and among them he was of use. But 
when familiarity and noise claim the praise due to knowledge, 15 
art, and elegance, we must beat down such pretensions." 

Boswell. " Should you not like to see Dublin, Sir?" 
Johnson. "No, Sir; Dublin is only a worse capital." 
Boswell. "Is not the Giant's-causeway worth seeing?" 
Johnson. "Worth seeing ? yes ; but not worth going to see." 20 

Yet he had a kindness for the Irish nation, and thus gener- 
ously expressed himself to a gentleman from that country, — 
"Do not make an union with us, Sir. We should unite with 
you, only to rob you. We should have robbed the Scotch, if 
they had had any thing of which we could have robbed them." 25 

A foreign minister of no very high talents, who had been in 
his company for a considerable time quite overlooked, happened 
luckily to mention that he had read some of his Rambler in 
Italian, and admired it much. This pleased him greatly ; he 
observed that the title had been translated, II Genio err ante, 30 
though I have been told it was rendered more ludicrously, II 
Vagabondo ; and finding that this minister gave such a proof 
of his taste, he was all attention to him, and on the first remark 
which he made, however simple, exclaimed, "The Ambas- 
sadour says well ; — His Excellency observes — ; " And then 35 
he expanded and enriched the little that had been said, in so 
strong a manner, that it appeared something of consequence. 



260 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

This was exceedingly entertaining to the company who were 
present, and many a time afterwards it furnished a pleasant 
topick of merriment : " The Ambassadour says well," became a 
laughable term of applause, when no mighty matter had been 
5 expressed. 

To Boswell. 

" The great direction which Burton has left to men disordered 
like you, is this, Be not solitary; be not idle: which I would 
thus modify ; — If you are idle, be not solitary ; if you are 
10 solitary, be not idle. 

" At Bolt-court there is much malignity, but of late little 
open hostility. Sam. Johnson. " 

After a good deal of enquiry I had discovered the sister of 
Mr. Francis Stewart, one of his amanuenses when writing 

15 his Dictionary; I had, as desired by him, paid her a 
guinea for an old pocket-book of her brother's which he had 
retained; and the good woman, who was in very moderate 
circumstances, but contented and placid, wondered at his 
scrupulous and liberal honesty, and received the guinea as if 

20 sent her by Providence. 

To Boswell. 

"Well, I had resolved to send you the Chesterfield letter, 
but I will write once again without it. Never impose tasks 
upon mortals. To require two things is the way to have them 

25 both undone. 

" Poor dear Beauclerk — nee, ut soles, dabis joca. His wit 
and his folly, his acuteness and maliciousness, his merriment 
and reasoning, are now over. Such another will not often 
be found among mankind. He directed himself to be buried 

30 by the side of his mother, an instance of tenderness which I 
hardly expected. He has left his children to the care of Lady 
Di, and if she dies, of Mr. Langton, and of Mr. Leicester, his 
relation, and a man of good character. His library has been 
offered to sale to the Russian ambassador. Sam. Johnson." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 261 

Mrs. Thrale to Dr. Johnson. 

" Yesterday's evening was passed at Mrs. Montagu's: 
there was Mr. Melmoth, just Tory enough to hate the Bishop 
of Peterborough for Whiggism, and Whig enough to abhor 
you for Toryism. 5 

" Mrs. Montagu flattered him finely ; so he had a good after- 
noon on't. This evening we spent at a concert. Poor 
Queeney's sore eyes have just released her : she had a long 
confinement, and could neither read nor write, so my master 
treated her very good-naturedly with the visits of a young 10 
woman in this town, a taylor's daughter, who professes musick, 
and teaches so as to give six lessons a day to ladies, at five 
and threepence a lesson. Miss Burney says, she is a great 
performer ; and I respect the wench for getting her living so 
prettily ; she is very modest and pretty mannered, and not 15 
seventeen years old. 

" I felt my regard for you in my face last night, when the crit- 
icisms were going on. 

"This morning it was all connoisseurship ; we went to see 
some pictures painted by a gentleman-artist, Mr. Taylor, 20 
of this place; my master makes one everywhere, and has 
got a good dawdling companion to ride with him now. . . . 
He looks well enough, but I have no notion of health for a man 
whose mouth cannot be sewed up. Burney and I and Queeney 
teaze him every meal he eats, and Mrs. Montagu is quite 25 
serious with him ; but what can one do ? He will eat, I think, 
and if he does eat I know he will not live ; it makes me very 
unhappy, but I must bear it. Let me always have your 
friendship. I am, most sincerely, dear Sir, 

"Your faithful servant, 30 
"Bath, Friday, April 28." "H. L. T." 

To Mrs. Thrale. 
"Dearest Madam, 

"Mr. Thrale never will live abstinently, till he can 
persuade himself to live by rule. . . . Encourage, as you 35 
can, the musical girl. 



262 

" Never let criticisms operate on your face or your mind ; 

it is very rarely that an authour is hurt by his criticks. The 

blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies 

in the socket ; a very few names may be considered as per- 

5 petual lamps that shine unconsumed. Sam. Johnson." 

Langton to Boswell. 

" Johnson said, 'That Beauclerk's talents were those which 
he had felt himself more disposed to envy, than those of 
any whom he had known.' 

10 "At Mr. Yesey's, as soon as Dr. Johnson was come in, and 
had taken a chair, the company began to collect round him 
till they became not less than four, if not five, deep ; those 
behind standing, and listening over the heads of those that 
were sitting near him. The conversation for some time was 

15 chiefly between Dr. Johnson and the Provost of Eton, while 
the others contributed occasionally their remarks. " 

To Mrs. Thrale. 

" On Friday the good Protestants met in Saint Georges- 
Fields, at the summons of Lord George Gordon, and marching 

20 to Westminster, insulted the Lords and Commons, who all bore 
it with great tameness. At night the outrages began by the 
demolition of the. mass-house by Lincoln's Inn. 

" On Tuesday night they pulled down Fielding's house, and 
burnt his goods in the street. They had gutted on Monday 

25 Sir George Savile's house, but the building was saved. On 
Tuesday evening, leaving Fielding's ruins, they went to New- 
gate to demand their companions, who had been seized 
demolishing the chapel. The keeper could not release them 
but by the Mayor's permission, which he went to ask ; at his 

30 return he found all the prisoners released, and Newgate 
in a blaze. They then went to Bloomsbury, and fastened- 
upon Lord Mansfield's house, which they pulled down ; and 
as for his goods, they totally burnt them. 

"On Wednesday I walked with Dr. Scott to look at New- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 263 

gate, and found it in ruins, with the fire yet glowing. As I 
went by, the Protestants were plundering the Sessions-house 
at the Old-Bailey. There were not, I believe, a hundred ; 
but they did their work at leisure, in full security, without 
sentinels, without trepidation, as men lawfully employed in 5 
full day. Such is the cowardice of a commercial place. On 
Wednesday they broke open the Fleet, and the King's-Bench, 
and the Marshalsea, and Wood-street Compter, and Clerken- 
well Bridewell, and released all the prisoners. 

" At night they set fire to the Fleet, and to the King's-Bench, 10 
and I know not how many other places ; and one might see 
the glare of conflagration fill the sky from many parts. The 
sight was dreadful. Some people were threatened : Mr. 
Strahan advised me to take care of myself. Such a time of 
terrour you have been happy in not seeing. 15 

"The King said in council, 'That the magistrates had not 
done their duty, but that he would do his own.' 

"The soldiers are stationed so as to be every where within 
call : there is no longer any body of rioters, and the individuals 
are hunted to their holes, and led to prison ; Lord George was 20 
last night sent to the Tower. Mr. John Wilkes was this day 
in my neighbourhood, to seize the publisher of a seditious 
paper." 

"Several chapels have been destroyed, and several inoffen- 
sive Papists have been plundered, but the high sport was to 25 
burn the gaols. This was a good rabble trick. The debtors 
and the criminals were all set at liberty ; but of the criminals, 
as has always happened, many are already retaken." 

"The publick has escaped a very heavy calamity. The 
rioters attempted the Bank on Wednesday night, but in no 30 
great number; and like other thieves, with no great resolu- 
tion. Jack Wilkes headed the party that drove them away. 
It is agreed, that if they had seized the Bank on Tuesday, 
at the height of the panick, when no resistance had been 
prepared, they might have carried irrecoverably away what- 35 
ever they had found. Jack, who was always zealous for 
order and decency, declares, that if he be trusted with power, 



264 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

he will not leave a rioter alive. There is, however, now no 
longer any need of heroism or bloodshed ; no blue ribband is 
any longer worn. Sam. Johnson." 

I should think myself very much to blame, did I here neglect 
5 to do justice to my esteemed friend Mr. Akerman, the keeper 
of Newgate. 

From the timidity and negligence of magistracy on the one 
hand, and the almost incredible exertions of the mob on the 
other, the first prison of this great country was laid open, and 

10 the prisoners set free ; but that Mr. Akerman, whose house 
was burnt, would have prevented all this, had proper aid 
been sent him in due time, there can be no doubt. 

Many years ago, a fire broke out in the brick part which was 
built as an addition to the old gaol of Newgate. The Prisoners 

15 were in consternation and tumult, calling out, "We shall be 
burnt — we shall be burnt ! Down with the gate ! — down 
with the gate ! " Mr. Akerman hastened to them, shewed 
himself at the gate, and having, after some confused vocifera- 
tion of "Hear him ! — hear him ! " obtained a silent attention, 

20 he then calmly told them, that the gate must not go down ; 
that they were under his care, and that they should not be 
permitted to escape. " I have no doubt that the engines will 
soon extinguish this fire ; if they should not, a sufficient guard 
will come, and you shall be all taken out and lodged in the 

25 Compters. I assure you, upon my word and honour, that I 
have not a farthing insured. I have left my house that I 
might take care of you. I will keep my promise, and stay 
with you if you insist upon it ; but if you will allow me to go 
and look after my family and property, I shall be obliged 

30 to you." Struck with his behaviour, they called out, "Master 
Akerman, you have done bravely; it was very kind in 
you : by all means go and take care of your own concerns." 
He did so accordingly, while they remained, and were all 
preserved. 

35 Johnson has been heard to relate the substance of this story 
with high praise, in which he was joined by Mr. Burke. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 265 

To BOSWELL. 

"J have sat at home in Bolt-court, all the summer, thinking 
to write the Lives, and a great part of the time only thinking. 
Several of them, however, are done, and I still think to do the 
rest. 5 

" I would have gone to Lichfield if I could have had time, 
and I might have had time if I had been active ; but I have 
missed much, and done little. 

"In the late disturbances, Mr. Thrale's house and stock 
were in great danger ; the mob was pacified at their first 10 
invasion, with about fifty pounds in drink and meat; and 
at their second, were driven away by the soldiers. Mr. 
Strahan got a garrison into his house, and maintained them 
a fortnight ; he was so frighted, that he removed part 
of his goods. Mrs. Williams took shelter in the country. 15 
Sam. Johnson." 

Mr. Thrale had now another contest for the representation 
in Parliament of the borough of Southwark, and Johnson 
kindly lent him his assistance, by writing advertisements for 
him. I shall insert one as a specimen. 20 

To the Worthy Electors of the Borough of 
Southwark. 
"Gentlemen, 

"A new Parliament being now called, I again solicit the 
honour of being elected for one of your representatives ; and 25 
solicit it with the greater confidence, as I am not conscious of 
having neglected my duty, or of having acted otherwise than 
as becomes the independent representative of independent 
constituents; superiour to fear, hope, and expectation, who 
has no private purposes to promote, and whose prosperity is 30 
involved in the prosperity of his country. As my recovery 
from a very severe distemper is not yet perfect, I have 
declined to attend the Hall, and hope an omission so necessary 
will not be harshly censured. 



266 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"I can only send my respectful wishes, that all your de- 
liberations may tend to the happiness of the kingdom, and 
the peace of the borough. I am, Gentlemen, 

"Your most faithful 
5 "And obedient servant, 

"Henry Thrale." 

On his birth-day, Johnson has this note; "I am now be- 
ginning the seventy-second year of my life, with more strength 
of body, and greater vigour of mind, than I think is common 
10 at that age." But still he complains of sleepless nights and 
idle days, and forgetfulness, or neglect of resolutions. He thus 
pathetically expresses himself : "Surely I shall not spend my 
whole life with my own total disapprobation." 

To Boswell. 

15 "I am sorry to write you a letter that will not please you, 
and yet it is at last what I resolve to do. This year must pass 
without an interview ; the summer has been foolishly lost, like 
many other of my summers and winters. I hardly saw a green 
field, but staid in town to work, without working much. 

20 "Mr. Thrale's loss of health has lost him the election ; he is 
now going to B right helmst on, and expects me to go with him. 
I do not much like the place, but yet I shall go, and stay while 
my stay is desired. Sam. Johnson." 

Johnson. "Theocritus is not deserving of very high 
25 respect as a writer ; as to the pastoral part; Virgil is very 
evidently superiour. Some of the most excellent parts of 
Theocritus are where Castor and Pollux, going with the 
other Argonauts, land on the Bebrycian coast, and there fall 
into a dispute with Amycus, the King of that country ; which 
30 is as well conducted as Euripides could have done it ; and the 
battle is well related. i The Sicilian Gossips '° is a piece of 
merit." 

"It may be questioned, whether there is not some mistake 
as to the methods of employing the poor, seemingly on a 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 267 

supposition that there is a certain portion of work left undone 
for want of persons to do it ; but if that is otherwise, a certain 
part of those very materials that, as it is, are properly worked 
up, must be spoiled by the unskilfulness of novices. We may 
apply to well-meaning, but misjudging persons in particulars 5 
of this nature, what Giannone said to a monk, who wanted 
what he called to convert him : ' Tu set santo, ma tu non sei 
filosopho.' — One might give away five hundred pounds in a 
year to those that importune in the streets, and not do any 
good." 10 

" There is nothing more likely to betray a man into absurd- 
ity than condescension; when he seems to suppose his under- 
standing too powerful for his company." 

" Sir, among the anfractuosities of the human mind, I 
know not if it may not be one, that there is a superstitious 15 
reluctance to sit for a picture." 

Soon after the publication of his Dictionary, Garrick being 
asked by Johnson what people said of it, told him, that it was 
objected that he cited authorities which were beneath the 
dignity of such a work, and mentioned Richardson. " Nay, 20 
(said Johnson,) I have done worse than that : I have cited 
thee, David." 

One day, having read over one of his Ramblers, Mr. Lang- 
ton asked him, how he liked that paper ; he shook his head, 
and answered, " too wordy." At another time, when one was 25 
reading his tragedy of " Irene," to a company at a house in the 
country, he left the room : and somebody having asked him 
the reason of this, he replied, " Sir, I thought it had been 
better." 

Talking of a point of delicate scrupulosity of moral con- 30 
duct, he said to Mr. Langton, " Men of harder minds than ours 
will do many things from which you and I would shrink ; yet, 
Sir, they will perhaps do more good in life than we." 

Of Sir Joshua Reynolds, he said, " Sir, I know no man who 
has passed through life with more observation than Reynolds." 35 

He repeated to Mr. Langton, with great energy, in the 
Greek, our Saviour's gracious expression concerning the for- 



268 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

giveness of Mary Magdalen, ut H wurns <jov o-ecrw/cc ere* -rropevov 

ek dprjvqv" " Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." He 
said, " the manner of this dismission is exceedingly affecting." 
He thus defined the difference between physical and moral 
5 truth : " Physical truth is, when you tell a thing as it actually 
is. Moral truth is, when you tell a thing sincerely and pre- 
cisely as it appears to you. I say such a one walked across 
the street ; if he really did so, I told a physical truth. If I 
thought so, though I should have been mistaken, I told a 

10 moral truth." 

Huggins, the translator of Ariosto, and Mr. Thomas 
Warton had a dispute concerning that poet. Johnson said, 
" It appears to me, that Huggins has ball without powder, and 
Warton powder without ball." 

15 Talking of the Farce of "High Life below Stairs," he said, 
" Here is a Farce, which is really very diverting, when 3^ou see 
it acted ; and yet one may read it, and not know that one has 
been reading any thing at all." 

He used at one time to go occasionally to the green-room 

20 of Drury-lane Theatre, where he was much regarded by the 
players, and was very easy and facetious with them. He had 
a very high opinion of Mrs. Clive's comick powers. " Clive, 
Sir, is a good thing to sit by; she always understands what 
you say." And she said of him, "I love to sit by Dr. 

25 Johnson : he always entertains me." 

One evening, " I met David coming off the stage, drest in a 
woman's riding hood, when he acted in The Wonder ; I came 
full upon him, and I believe he was not pleased." 

Once he asked Tom Da vies, whom he saw drest in a fine 

30 suit of clothes, "And what art thou to-night ? " Tom an- 
swered, " The Thane of Ross " (which it will be recollected is 
a very inconsiderable character). " brave ! " said Johnson. 
A story was told, that when Pope was on a visit to Spence 
at Oxford, as the} 7, looked from the window, they saw a gentle-- 

35 man-commoner, who was just come in from riding, amusing 
himself with whipping at a post. Pope took occasion to say, 
"That young gentleman seems to have little to do." Mr. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 269 

Beauclerk observed, " Then, to be sure, Spence turned round 
and wrote that down. Pope, Sir, would have said the same 
of you, if he had seen you distilling." Johnson. "Sir, if 
Pope had told me of my distilling, I would have told him of 
his grotto." 5 

A friend one day suggested, that it was not wholesome to 
study soon after dinner. Johnson. " Ah, Sir, don't give 
way to such a fancy. At one time of my life I had taken it 
into my head that it was not wholesome to study between 
breakfast and dinner." ' 10 

Dr. Goldsmith, upon occasion of Mrs. Lennox's bringing 
out a play, said to Dr. Johnson at the Club, that a person had 
advised him to go and hiss it, because she had attacked 
Shakspeare in her book called " Shakspeare Illustrated." 
Johnson. " And did not you tell him that he was a rascal ? " 15 
Goldsmith. "No, Sir, I did not. Perhaps he might not 
mean what he said." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, if he lied, it is 
a different thing." Colman slily said, (but it is believed 
Dr. Johnson did not hear him,) "Then the proper expression 
should have been, — Sir, if you don't lie, you're a rascal." 20 

When Beauclerk was labouring under that severe illness 
which at last occasioned his death, Johnson said, (with a voice 
faltering with emotion,) ." Sir, I would walk to the extent of 
the diameter of the earth to save Beauclerk." 

" A Scotchman, Sir, though you vote nineteen times against 25 
him, will accost you with equal complaisance after each time, 
and the twentieth time, Sir, he will get your vote." 

He made his usual remark, that the State has a right to 
regulate the religion of the people, who are the children of 
the State. A clergyman having readily acquiesced in this, 30 
Johnson, who loved discussion, observed, " But, Sir, you must 
go round to other States than our own. You do not know 
what a Bramin has to say for himself. Every man has a 
right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a 
right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test." 35 

"A man, he observed, should begin to write soon. It is 
related of the great Lord Granville ; that after he had written 



270 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

his letter giving an account of the battle of Dettingen, he said, 
'Here is a letter, expressed in terms not good enough for a 
tallow-chandler to have used/ " 

Talking of a Court-martial that was sitting upon a very 

5 momentous publick occasion, he expressed much doubt of an 

enlightened decision ; and said, that perhaps there was not a 

member of it, who in the whole course of his life, had ever 

spent an hour by himself in balancing probabilities. 

Goldsmith brought to the Club a printed Ode, which had 

10 been read by its authour in a publick room, at the rate of five 
shillings each for admission. Johnson. " Bolder words and 
more timorous meaning, I think, never were brought to- 
gether." 

Talking of Gray's Odes, he said, " They are forced plants, 

15 raised in a hot-bed ; and they are poor plants ; they are but 
cucumbers after all." A gentleman present, who had been 
running down ode-writing, as a bad species of poetry, un- 
luckily said, " Had they been literary cucumbers, they had 
been better things than Odes." — " Yes, Sir, (said Johnson,) 

20 for a hog." 

Of Queen Elizabeth he said, " She had learning enough to 
have given dignity to a bishop ; " and of Mr. Thomas Davies, 
" Sir, Davies has learning enough tp give credit to a clergy- 
man." 

25 He used to quote with great warmth, the saying of Aris- 
totle ; that there was the same difference between one learned 
and unlearned, as between the living and the dead. 

He retained in his memory very slight and trivial, as well 
as important, things. An inferiour domestick of the Duke of 

30 Leeds had attempted to celebrate his Grace's marriage in 
rhymes ; and this curious composition having been sung to Dr. 
Johnson, he got it by heart, and used to repeat it in a very 
pleasant manner. 

" When the Duke of Leeds shall married be 
35 To a fine young lady of high quality, 

How happy will that gentlewoman be 
In his Grace of Leeds's good company. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 271 

" She shall have all that's fine and fair, 
And the best of silk and sattin shall wear ; 
And ride in a coach to take the air, 
And have a house in St. James's-Square." 

He seriously observed of the last stanza, that it nearly com- 5 
prised all the advantages that wealth can give. 

An eminent foreigner, when he was shewn the British 
Museum, was very troublesome with many absurd enquiries. 
" Now there, Sir, (said he,) is the difference between an Eng- 
lishman and a Frenchman. A Frenchman must be always 10 
talking, whether he knows any thing of the matter or not ; an 
Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing 
to say." 

His unjust contempt for foreigners was, indeed, extreme. 
At Old Slaughter's coffee-house, a number of them were talk- 15 
ing loud about little matters. He said, ' ' Does not this confirm 
old MeynelTs observation — For any thing I see, foreigners 
are fools?" 

He said, that once, when he had a violent toothach, a 
Frenchman accosted him thus : Ah, Monsieur, vous etudiez 20 
troy. 

"It is evident enough that no one who writes now can use 
the Pagan deities and mythology ; the only machinery, there- 
fore, seems that of ministering spirits, the ghosts of the de- 
parted, witches, and fairies, though these latter, as the vulgar 25 
superstition concerning them is every day wearing out, 
seem likely to be of little further assistance in the machinery 
of poetry." 

"Lord was likely, after asserting a thing in general, to 

give it up again in parts. If he had said Reynolds was the 30 
first of painters, he was capable enough of giving up, as ob- 
jections might happen to be severally made, first, his outline, 
— then the grace in form, — then the colouring, — and lastly, 
to have owned that he was such a mannerist, that the disposi- 
tion of his pictures was all alike." 

"Hospitality to strangers and foreigners in our country is c 
now almost at an end; since there have been a sufficient 



272 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

number of people that have found an interest in providing inns 
and proper accommodations." 

He used frequently to observe, that men might be very 
eminent in a profession, without our perceiving any particular 
5 power of mind in them in conversation. " It seems strange 
(said he,) that a man should see so far to the right, who sees 
so short a way to the left. Burke is the only man whose 
common conversation corresponds with the general fame 
which he has in the world. Take up whatever topick you 

10 please, he is ready to meet you." 

Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley's 
" Cleone, a Tragedy," to him, not aware of his extreme impa- 
tience to be read to. As it went on he turned his face to the 
back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, 

15 which marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act, however, 
he said, " Come, let's have some more, let's go into the slaugh- 
ter-house again, Lanky. But I am afraid there is more blood 
than brains." 

" I would put a child into a library (where no unfit books are) 

20 and let him read at his choice. A child should not be dis- 
couraged from reading any thing that he takes a liking to, 
from a notion that it is above his reach." 

Once, to avoid the trouble of locking up five guineas, 
he hid them, he forgot where, so that he could not find 

25 them. 

A gentleman who introduced his brother to Dr. Johnson, 
was earnest to recommend him to the Doctor's notice, which 
he did by saying, " When we have sat together some time, 
you'll find my brother grow very entertaining." — " Sir, (said 

30 Johnson,) I can wait." 

When the rumour was strong that we should have a war, 
because the French would assist the Americans, he rebuked a 
friend with some asperity for supposing it, saying, " No, Sir, 
national faith is not yet sunk so low." 

35 Goldsmith had long a visionary project, that some time 
when his circumstances should be easier, he would go to 
Aleppo, to acquire a knowledge of arts peculiar to the East, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 273 

and introduce them into Britain. Dr. Johnson said, of all 
men Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an en- 
quiry ; for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already 
possess. " Sir, he would bring home a grinding-barrow, which 
you see in every street in London, and think that he had 5 
furnished a wonderful improvement. " 

" Greek, Sir, (said he) is like lace ; every man gets as much 
of it as he can." 

Drinking tea one day at Garrick's with Mr. Langton, he 
was questioned if he was not somewhat of a heretic as to 10 
Shakspeare ; said Garrick, " I doubt he is a little of an infidel." 
— " Sir, (said Johnson,) I will stand by the lines I have written 
on Shakspeare in my Prologue at the opening of your Theatre." 
Mr. Langton suggested, that in the line 

" And panting Time toil'd after him in vain ; " 15 

Johnson might have had in his eye the passage in the 
" Tempest," where Prospero says of Miranda, 

" She will outstrip all praise, 

And make it halt behind her." 

Johnson said nothing. Garrick. " I do not think that the hap- 20 
piest line in the praise of Shakspeare." Johnson, (smiling,) 
" Prosaical rogues ! next time I write, I'll make both time and 
space pant." 

As Johnson always allowed the extraordinary talents of 
Mr. Burke, so Mr. Burke was fully sensible of the wonderful 25 
powers of Johnson. Mr. Langton recollects having passed 
an evening with both of them, when Mr. Burke repeatedly 
entered upon topicks which it was evident he would have 
illustrated with extensive knowledge and richness of ex- 
pression ; but Johnson always seized upon the conversation, 30 
in which, however, he acquitted himself in a most masterly 
manner. As Mr. Burke and Mr. Langton were walking home, 
Mr. Burke observed that Johnson had been very great that 
night ; Mr. Langton joined in this, but added, he could have 
wished to hear more from another person (plainly intimat- 35 



274 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ing that he meant Mr. Burke) . " 0, no, (said Mr. Burke,) it is 
enough for me to have rung the bell to him." 

Beauclerk observed of one of their friends, that he was 
awkward at counting money, " Why, Sir," said Johnson, " I 
5 am likewise awkward at counting money. But then, Sir, the 
reason is plain ; I have had very little money to count." 

He had an abhorrence of affectation. Of old Mr. Lang- 
ton, he said, " Sir, he has no grimace, no gesticulation, no 
bursts of admiration on trivial occasions ; he never embraces 
10 you with an overacted cordiality." 

A gentleman thought fit to maintain Dr. Berkeley's in- 
genious philosophy, that nothing exists but as perceived by 
some mind. When the gentleman was going away, Johnson 
said, " Pray, Sir, don't leave us; for we may perhaps forget 
15 to think of you, and then you will cease to exist." 

Goldsmith, visited by Johnson one day in the Temple, 
said with a little jealousy of the appearance of his accommo- 
dation, "I shall soon be in better chambers than these." 
Johnson at the same time checked him and paid him a hand- 
20 some compliment, implying that a man of his talents should be 
above attention to such distinctions, — " Nay, Sir, never 
mind that; Nil te qucesiveris extra." 

When Mr. Vesey was proposed as a member of the Lit- 
erary Club, Mr. Burke began by saying, that he was a man 
25 of gentle manners. " Sir," said Johnson, "you need say no 
more. When you have said a man of gentle manners, you 
have said enough." 

Johnson said, " Sir, a man has no more right to say an 
uncivil thing, than to act one ; no more right to say a rude thing 
30 to another than to knock him down." 

Somebody produced a newspaper in which there was a 
letter of stupid abuse of Sir Joshua Reynolds, of which John- 
son himself came in for a share, — " Pray," said he, " let us 
have it read aloud from beginning to end ; " he with a ludi- 
35 crous earnestness, and not directing his look to any particular 
person, called out, " Are we alive after ail this satire ! " 
Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, " No man was more foolish 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.I). 275 

when he had not a pen in his hand, of more wise when he 
had." m ' 

"If a man talks of his misfortunes, there is something in 
them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is 
nothing but pure misery, there never is any recourse to the 5 
mention of it." 

"A man must be a poor beast, that should read no more in 
quantity than he could utter aloud." 

"Imlac in l Rasselas/ I spelt with a c at the end, because 
it is less like English, which should always have the Saxon k ° 10 
added to the c." 

"Many a man is mad in certain instances, and goes through 
life without having it perceived; — for example, a madness 
of supposing himself obliged literally to pray continually; 
had the madness turned the opposite way, and the person 15 
thought it a crime ever to pray, it might have continued 
unobserved." 

, He apprehended that the delineation of characters in the 
end of the first Book of the " Retreat of the ten thousand " was 
the first instance of the kind that was known. 20 

"Supposing (said he,) a wife to be of a studious or argumen- 
tative turn, it would be very troublesome : — if a woman should 
continually dwell upon the subject of the Arian heresy." 

"No man speaks concerning another, even in his praise, 
exactly as he would, if he was within hearing." 25 

" The applause of a single human being is of great conse- 
quence." 

He observed that a beggar in the street will more readily 
ask alms from a man, than from even a well-dressed woman) 
which he accounted for from the great degree of carefulness as 30 
to money, that is to be found in women ; saying farther upon 
it, that the opportunities in general that they possess of im- 
proving their condition are much fewer than men have ; — 
" there is not one of us who does not think he might be richer, 
if he would use his endeavour." 35 

He characterised an ingenious writer: " Sir, he is an en- 
thusiast by rule." 



276 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

The Reverend Dr. Franklin having published a transla- 
tion of "Lucian," inscribed to him the Demonax thus: 
"To Dr. Samuel Johnson, the Demonax of the present 
^age." 

5 Johnson at last completed his " Lives of the Poets. " 
"Some time in March I finished the 'Lives of the Poets/ 
which I wrote in my usual way, dilatorily and hastily, 
unwilling to work, and working with vigour and haste." In a 
memorandum : ' ' Written, I hope, in such a manner as may 
10 tend to the promotion of piety." 

His mind was so full of information, so well arranged in his 
memory, that he had little more to do than to put his thoughts 
upon paper; exhibiting first each Poet's life, and then sub- 
joining a critical examination of his genius and works. But 
15 the subject swelled in such a manner, that instead of prefaces 
to each poet, of no more than a few pages, he produced an 
ample, rich, and most entertaining view of them in every 
respect. The booksellers, justly sensible of the great addi- 
tional value of the copy-right, presented him with another- 
20 hundred pounds, over and above two-hundred. 

As he was so good as to make me a present of the only 
manuscript, I have an opportunity of observing the correct- 
ness with which he rapidly struck off such glowing composi- 
tion. 
25 I observe the fair hand of Airs. Thrale as one of his copyists. 
The Life of Cowley he himself considered as the best of the 
whole, on account of the dissertation which it contains on the 
Metaphysical Poets. 

So easy is his style in these Lives, that I do not recollect 
30 more than three uncommon or learned words; one: giving 
an account of the approach of Waller's mortal disease, he 
says, " he found his legs grow turn id" He mentions that Pope 
had emitted proposals; when published or issued would have 
been more readily understood. He calls Orrery and Dr. 
35Delaney writers both undoubtedly veracious; when true, 
honest, or faithful, might have been used. 

Against his Life of Milton, the hounds of Whiggism have 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 277 

opened in full cry. But of Milton's great excellence as a 
poet, where shall we find such a blazon as by the hand of 
Johnson ? I select the passage concerning Pakadise Lost : 

" Fancy can hardly forbear to conjecture with what temper 
Milton surveyed the silent progress of his work, and marked 5 
his reputation stealing its way in a kind of subterraneous 
current, through fear and silence." 

That a man, who venerated the Church and Monarchy as 
Johnson did, should speak with a just abhorrence of Milton as 
a politician, was surely to be expected ; I would recommend 10 
his commentary on Milton's celebrated complaint of his 
situation, when by the lenity of Charles the Second, "he, who 
had written in justification of the murder of his Sovereign, 
was safe under an Act of Oblivion" "No sooner is he safe 
than he finds himself in danger, fallen on evil days and evil 15 
tongues, with darkness and with dangers compassed round. He 
was fallen, indeed, on evil days ; the time was come in which 
regicides could no longer boast their wickedness. But of evil 
tongues for Milton to complain, required impudence at least 
equal to his other powers ; Milton, whose warmest advocates 20 
must allow, that he never spared any asperity of reproach, or 
brutality of insolence." 

Johnson took occasion to maintain his own and the general 
opinion of the excellence of rhyme over blank verse, in Eng- 
lish poetry ; and quotes this apposite illustration of it by "an 25 
ingenious critick," that it seems to be verse only to the eye. 

In the numerous writings of Johnson, even in his Tragedy, 
of which the subject is the distress of an unfortunate Princess, 
there is not a single passage that ever drew a tear. 

The Life of Pope was written con amore, pronouncing the 30 
triumphant eulogium : "After all this, it is surely superfluous 
to answer the question that has once been asked, Whether 
Pope was a poet ? otherwise than by asking in return, if Pope 
be not a poet, where is poetry to be found ? To circumscribe 
poetry by a definition, will only shew the narrowness of the 35 
definer ; though a definition which shall exclude Pope will not 
easily be made." 



278 

"Sir, a thousand years may elapse before there shall appear 
another man with a power of versification equal to that of 
Pope." 

Pope differed widely from Johnson, whose conversation 
5 was, perhaps, more admirable than his writings. Mr. Wilkes 
has, however, favoured me with one repartee of Pope. When 
he was asked by his Royal Highness, how he could love a Prince, 
while he disliked Kings? the answer which Pope made, 
was, "The young lion is harmless, and even playful; but 

10 when his claws are full-grown, he becomes cruel, dreadful, 
and mischievous." 

Johnson has been heard to say, that "the happiest con- 
versation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, 
but a general effect of pleasing impression." 

15 In the Life of Addison we find an unpleasing account of 
his having lent Steele a hundred pounds, and "reclaimed his 
loan by an execution." Malone says, "Dr. Johnson had 
it from Savage, who lived in intimacy with Steele, and 
who mentioned that Steele told him the story with tears 

20 in his eyes. Some in defence of Addison, have said, that 
'the act was done with the good-natured view of rousing 
Steele, and correcting that profusion which always made 
him necessitous/ — 'If that were the case, (said Johnson,) 
and that he only wanted to alarm Steele, he would after- 

25 wards have returned the money to his friend, which it is 
not pretended he did.' 'But of such speculations there is 
no end ; we cannot dive into the hearts of men ; but their 
actions are open to observation/ " 

" The sacred writers (he observed,) related the vicious as well 

30 as the virtuous actions of men ; which had this moral effect, 
that it kept mankind from despair." 

In the Life of Lyttelton, Johnson seems to have been not 
favourably disposed towards that nobleman. Mrs. Thrale 
suggests that he was offended by Molly Aston's preference of 

35 his Lordship to him. 

He did Mr. Herbert Croft the honour to adopt a Life of 
Young written by that gentleman, who was the friend of Dr. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 279 

Young's son. A very eminent literary character opposed me 
vehemently, exclaiming, "No, no, it is not a good imitation 
of Johnson ; it has all his pomp without his force ; it has all 
the nodosities of the oak without its strength. It has all the 
contortions of the Sybil, without the inspiration." 

Johnson's decision upon " Night Thoughts : " — "A wilder- 5 
ness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers 
of every hue and of every odour. This is one of the few poems 
in which blank verse could not be changed for rhime, but with 
disadvantage." 

In the Life of Swift, it appears to me that Johnson had a 10 
certain degree of prejudice. Sheridan imputed it to a sup- 
posed apprehension in Johnson, that Swift had not been suffi- 
ciently active in obtaining for him an Irish degree, but of this 
there was not sufficient evidence. "A great mind disdains 
to hold any thing by courtesy, and therefore never usurps 15 
what a lawful claimant may take away. He that encroaches 
on another's dignity, puts himself in his power ; he is either 
repelled with helpless indignity, or endured by clemency 
and condescension." 

While the world in general was filled with admiration of 20 
Johnson's " Lives of the Poets," by some violent Whigs he was 
arraigned of injustice to Milton; by some Cambridge men of 
depreciating Gray ; and his expressing what he really thought 
of Lord Lyttelton, produced a declaration of war against him 
from Mrs. Montagu. When I talked to him of the feeble, 25 
though shrill outcry which had been raised, "Sir, I considered 
myself as entrusted with a certain portion of truth. I have 
given my opinion sincerely ; let them shew where they think 
me wrong." 

To the Honourable Warren Hastings, Esq. 30 

"SlR, 

" Though I have had but little personal knowledge of 
you, I have had enough to make me wish for more; and 
though it be now a long time since I was honoured by your 
visit, I had too much pleasure from it to forget it. By those 35 



280 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

whom we delight to remember, we are unwilling to be for- 
gotten. 

"That literature is not totally forsaking us, and that your 
favourite language is not neglected, will appear from the book, 
5 which I should have pleased myself more with sending, if I 
could have presented it bound : but time was wanting. I beg, 
however, Sir, that you will accept it from a man very de- 
sirous of your regard. Sam. Johnson. " 

I wrote, complaining of having been troubled by a recurrence 
10 of the perplexing question of Liberty and Necessity ; — 

To Boswell. 

"I hoped you had got rid of all this hypocrisy of misery. 

What have you to do with Liberty and Necessity? Or 

what more than to hold your tongue about it? Do not 
15 doubt but I shall be most heartily glad to see you here 

again, for I love every part about you but your affectation 

of distress. 

"I have at last finished my Lives, and have laid up for you 

a load of cop} 7 , all out of order, so that it will amuse you a long 
20 time to set it right. Come to me, my dear Bozzy, and let us 

be as happy as we can. We will go again to the Mitre, and 

talk old times over. Sam. Johnson, " 

I met him in Fleet-street, walking, or rather indeed moving 
along ; for his peculiar march is thus described in a very 

25 just and picturesque manner, in a short Life of him published 
very soon after his death: — "When he walked the streets, 
what with the constant roll of his head, and the concomitant 
motion of his body, he appeared to make his way by that 
motion, independent of his feet." That he was often much 

30 stared at while he advanced in this manner, may easily be 
believed ; but it was not safe to make sport of one so robust 
as he was. Mr. Langton saw him one day, in a fit of absence, 
by a sudden start, drive the load off a porter's back, and walk 
forward briskly ; without being conscious of what he had done. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 281 

The porter was very angry, but stood still, and eyed the 
huge figure with much earnestness, till he was satisfied that 
his wisest course was to be quiet, and take up his burthen 
again. 

He said he was engaged to go out in the morning. " Early, 5 
Sir ? " said I. Johnson. "Why, Sir, a London morning does 
not go with the sun." 

Mr. Thrale told me I might now have the pleasure to see 
Dr. Johnson drink wine again. The first evening that I was 
with him at Thrale's, I observed he poured a large quantity of 10 
it into a glass, and swallowed it greedily. Every thing about 
his character and manners was forcible and violent; there 
never was any moderation; many a day did he fast, many a 
year did he refrain from wine; but when he did eat, it was 
voraciously ; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He 15 
could practise abstinence, but not temperance. 

He said, "Mrs. Montagu has dropt me. Now, Sir, there 
are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would 
not wish to be dropped by." He certainly was vain of the 
society of ladies, and could make himself very agreeable 20 
to them, when he chose it; Sir Joshua Reynolds agreed 
with me that he could. Dean Marlay wittily observed, 
"A lady may be vain, when she can turn a wolf-dog into a 
lap-dog." 

Johnson and his friend Beauclerk were once together in 25 
company with several clergymen, who thought that they should 
appear to advantage, by assuming the lax jollity of men of the 
world. Johnson, who they expected would be entertained, sat 
grave and silent for some time ; at last, turning to Beauclerk, 
he said, by no means in a whisper, "This merriment of parsons 30 
is mighty offensive." 

Dr. Porteus observes of a reverend fop, that he "can be 
but half a beau." 

Addison has given us a fine portrait of a clergyman, a mem- 
ber of his Club ; and Johnson has exhibited a model, in the 35 
character of Mr. Mudge : 

"The Reverend Mr. Zachariah Mudge, Prebendary of 



282 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Exeter, and Vicar of St. Andrew's in Plymouth; a man 
equally eminent for his virtues and abilities, and at once 
beloved as a companion and reverenced as a pastor. 

"His principles both of thought and action were great and 
5 comprehensive. By a solicitous examination of objections, 
and judicious comparison of opposite arguments, he attained 
what enquiry never gives but to industry and perspicuity, 
a firm and unshaken settlement of conviction. But his 
firmness was without asperity ; for, knowing with how much 

10 difficulty truth was sometimes found, he did not wonder that 
many missed it. His discharge of parochial duties was ex- 
emplary. His delivery detained the mind upon the subject, 
without directing it to the speaker. His acquaintance was 
universally solicited, and his presence obstructed no enjoy- 

I5ment which religion did not forbid." 

The Cornish fishermen drink Mahogany, made of two parts 
gin, and one part treacle, well beaten together. I said it was 
a counterpart of what is called Athol Porridge in the Highlands 
of Scotland, which is a mixture of whisky and honey. John- 

20 son said, "That must be a better liquor than the Cornish, 
for both its component parts are better." He also observed, 
"Mahogany must be a modern name; for it is not long since 
the wood called mahogany was known in this country." 
I mentioned Ms scale of liquors : — claret for boys, — port 

25 for men, — brandy for heroes. "Then (said Mr. Burke,) 
let me have claret : I love to be a boy ; to have the careless 
gaiety of boyish days." Johnson. "I should drink claret 
too, if it would give me that ; but it does not : it neither 
makes boys men, nor men boys. You'll be drowned by it, 

30 before it has any effect upon you." 

I ventured to mention a ludicrous paragraph in the news- 
papers, that Dr. Johnson was learning to dance of Vestris. 
Lord Charlemont, wishing to excite him to talk, proposed in a 
whisper, that he should be asked, whether it was true. " Shall 

35 1 ask him ? " said his Lordship. We were, by a great majority, 
clear for the experiment. Upon which his Lordship very 
gravely, and with a courteous air said, "Pray, Sir, is it true 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 283 

that you are taking lessons of Vestris ? " This was risking a 
good deal, and required the boldness of a General of Irish 
Volunteers to make the attempt. Johnson was at first 
startled, and in some heat answered, "How can your Lordship 
ask so simple a question ?" But immediately recovering 5 
himself, whether from unwillingness to be deceived, or to 
appear deceived, or whether from real good humour, he kept 
up the joke : "Nay, but if any body were to answer the para- 
graph, and contradict it, I'd have a reply, and would say, that 
he who contradicted it was no friend either to Vestris or me. 10 
For why should not Dr. Johnson add to his other powers a 
little corporeal agility ? Socrates learnt to dance at an ad- 
vanced age, and Cato learnt Greek at an advanced age. 
Then it might proceed to say, that this Johnson, not content 
with dancing on the ground, might dance on the rope ; and 15 
they might introduce the elephant dancing on the rope. A 
nobleman wrote a pla}^, called 'Love in a hollow Tree/ He 
found out that it was a bad one, and therefore wished to buy up 
all the copies, and burn them. The Duchess of Marlborough 
had kept one ; and when he was against her at an election, she 20 
had a new edition of it printed, and prefixed to it, as a frontis- 
piece, an elephant dancing on a rope ; to shew that his Lord- 
ship's writing comedy was as awkward as an elephant 
dancing on a rope." 

Sir Philip Jennings Clerk wore his own white hair in a bag 25 
of goodly size, a black velvet coat, with an embroidered waist- 
coat, and very rich laced ruffles ; which Mrs. Thrale said were 
old fashioned. "Ah, Sir, (said Johnson,) ancient ruffles and 
modern principles do not agree." Sir Philip defended the 
Opposition to the American war ably and with temper, and I 30 
joined him. He said, the majority of the nation was against 
the ministry. Johnson. "7; Sir, am against the min- 
istry; but it is for having too little of that, of which 
Opposition thinks they have too much. Were I minister, 
if any man wagged his finger against me, he should be turned 35 
out. If you will not oppose at the expence of losing your 
place, your opposition will not be honest." 



284 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Mrs. Thrale gave high praise to Mr. Dudley Long (now 
North). Johnson. "Nay, my dear lady, don't talk so. 
Mr. Long's character is very short. It is nothing. He fills 
a chair. He is a man of genteel appearance, and that is all. I 
5 know nobody w T ho blasts by praise as you do : when there is 
exaggerated praise, every body is set against a character. 
They are provoked to attack it. Now there is Pepys ; you 
praised that man with such disproportion, that I was incited 
to lessen him, perhaps more than he deserves. His blood is 

10 upon your head. By the same principle, your malice defeats 
itself ; for your censure is too violent. And yet (looking to 
her with a leering smile) she is the first woman in the world, 
could she but restrain that wdcked tongue of hers ; — she 
would be the only woman, could she but command that little 

15 whirligig." 

I took the liberty to say, that I thought there might be very 
high praise given to a known character which deserved it, 
and therefore it would not be exaggerated. Thus, one might 
say of Mr. Edmund Burke, he is a very wonderful man. 

20 Johnson. "No, Sir. Even Burke would suffer, not from any 
fault of his own, but from your folly." 

Mrs. Thrale mentioned a gentleman who had acquired a 
fortune of four thousand a year in trade, but was absolutely 
miserable, because he could not talk in company ; so miserable, 

25 that he w r as impelled to lament his situation in the street to 

, whom he hates, and who he knows despises him. 

"I am a most unhappy man (said he) . I am invited to conver- 
sations. I go to conversations ; but, alas ! I have no conver- 
sation." — Johnson. "Man commonly cannot be successful 

30 in different ways. This gentleman has spent, in getting four 
thousand pounds a year, the time in which he might have 
learnt to talk ; and now he cannot talk." Mr. Perkins made 
a shrewd and droll remark : " If he had got his four thousand a 
year as a mountebank, he might have learnt to talk at the 

35 same time that he was getting his fortune." 

Some other gentlemen came in. The conversation concern- 
ing the person whose character Dr. Johnson had treated so 



LL.D. 285 

slightingly, as he did not know his merit, was resumed. 
Mrs. Thrale said, "You think so of him, Sir, because he is 
quiet, and does not exert himself with force. You'll be saying 
the same thing of Mr. — — there, who sits as quiet — ." 
This was not well bred ; and Johnson did not let it pass with- 5 
out correction. "Nay, Madam, what right have you to talk 

thus? Both Mr. and I have reason to take it ill. 

You may talk so of Mr. ; but why do you make me 

doit? Have I said anything against Mr. ? You 

have set him, that I might shoot him : but I have not shot 10 
him." 

Mr. Thrale appeared very lethargick to-day. I saw him 
again on Monday evening, at which time he was not thought 
to be in immediate danger; but early in the morning of 
Wednesday, he expired. Johnson was in the house, and thus 15 
mentions the event: "I felt almost the last flutter of his 
pulse, and looked for the last time upon the face that for fifteen 
years had never been turned upon me but with respect and 
benignity." Upon that day there was a Call of the Literary 
Club ; but Johnson apologised for his absence by the follow- 20 
ing note : 

"Mr. Johnson knows that Sir Joshua Reynolds and the 
other gentlemen will excuse his incompliance with the Call, 
when they are told that Mr. Thrale died this morning." 

His friends of the Club were in hopes that Mr. Thrale might 25 
have made a liberal provision for him, which, as Mr. Thrale 
left no son, and a very large fortune, it would have been highly 
to his honour to have done ; but he bequeathed him only two 
hundred pounds, the legacy given to each of his executors. I 
could not but be somewhat diverted by hearing Johnson talk 30 
in a pompous manner of his new office. Lord Lucan tells a 
very good story, which is certainly characteristical : that when 
the sale of Thrale's brewery was going forward, Johnson 
appeared bustling about, with an ink-horn and pen in his 
button-hole, like an excise-man ; and on being asked what he 35 
' really considered to be the value of the property which was 



286 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

to be disposed of, answered, "We are not here to sell a parcel of 
boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond 
the dreams of avarice/' ° 

He carried me to dine at a club, which, at his desire, had 

5 been lately formed at the Queen's Arms, in St. Paul's Church- 
yard. He told Mr. Hoole, that he wished to have a 'City Club, 
and asked him to collect one ; but, said he, "Don't let them be 
patriots" He said he was glad Lord George Gordon had 
escaped, rather than that a precedent should be established 

10 for hanging a man for constructive treason. 

Johnson defended the oriental regulation of different casts 
of men. " The Bramins are the mastiffs of mankind." 

I have preserved his ingenious defence of his dining twice 
abroad in Passion-week; a laxity, in which I am convinced 

15 he would not have indulged himself at the time when he 
wrote his solemn paper in "The Rambler." "Your general 
character may be more hurt by preciseness than by dining 
with a Bishop in Passion-week. There might be a handle for 
reflection. It might be said, ' He refuses to dine with a Bishop 

20 in Passion-week, but was three Sundays absent from church.' 
You might do more harm by lessening the influence of a 
Bishop's character by your disapprobation in refusing him, 
than by going to him." 

Johnson produced now, for the first time, some handsome 

25 silver salvers, which he told me he had bought fourteen 
years ago ; so it was a great day. I was not a little amused 
by observing Allen perpetually struggling to talk in the 
manner of Johnson, like the little frog in the fable blowing 
himself up to resemble the stately ox. 

30 Mrs. Hall talked of the resurrection of the human race in 
general, and maintained that we shall be raised with the 
same bodies. Johnson. "Nay, Madam, we see that it is 
not to be the same body ; for the Scripture uses the illustra- 
tion of grain sown, and we know that the grain which grows 

35 is not the same with what is sown. You cannot suppose 
that we shall rise with a diseased body ; it is enough if there be 
such a sameness as to distinguish identity of person." 



287 

Of apparitions he observed, "A total disbelief of them is 
adverse to the opinion of the existence of the soul between 
death and the last day ; the question simply is, whether de- 
parted spirits ever have the power of making themselves 
perceptible to us : a man who thinks he has seen an apparition, 5 
can only be convinced himself; his authority will not con- 
vince another; and his conviction, if rational, must be 
founded on being told something which cannot be known but 
by supernatural means/' 

He mentioned a thing as not unfrequent — being called. 10 
Dr. Johnson said, that one day at Oxford, as he was turn- 
ing the key of his chamber, he heard his mother distinctly 
call — Sam. She was then at Lichfield; but nothing en- 
sued. 

Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hall were both together striving 15 
to answer him. He grew angry, and called out loudly, 
"Nay, when you both speak at once, it is intolerable.' ' But 
checking himself, and softening, "This one may say, though 
you are ladies." Then in gay humour, addressed them in the 
words of the song in "The Beggar's Opera : " 20 

"But two at a time there's no mortal can bear." 

"What, Sir, (said I,) are you going to turn Captain Mac- 
heath?" The contrast between Macheath, Polly and 
Lucy — and Dr. Samuel Johnson, blind, peevish Mrs. Williams, 
and lean, lank, preaching Mrs. Hall,° was exquisite. 2£ 

Mrs. Garrick, whose grief for the loss of her husband was, 
I believe, as sincere as wounded affection and admiration 
could produce, had a select party of his friends to dine with 
her. The company was, Miss Hannah More, who lived with 
her, and whom she called her Chaplain ; Mrs. Boscawen, 30 
Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Burney, 
Dr. Johnson, and myself. We found ourselves very ele- 
gantly entertained at her house in the Adelphi, where I 
have passed many a pleasing hour with him "who glad- 
dened life." 35 

We were regaled with Lichfield ale, which had a peculiar 



288 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

appropriate value. Sir Joshua, and Dr. Burney, and I 
drank cordially of it to Dr. Johnson's health; and though 
he would not join us, he as cordially answered, " Gentlemen, 
I wish 3^ou all as well as you do me." 
5 One of the company mentioned Mr. Thomas Hollis, the 
strenuous Whig, who used to send over Europe presents of 
democratical books, with their boards stamped with daggers 
and caps of liberty. Mrs. Carter said, "He was a bad man : 
he used to talk uncharitably." Johnson. "Poh! poh ! 

10 Madam ; who is the worse for being talked of uncharitably ? " 

Mrs. Carter said, "I doubt he was an Atheist." Johnson. 

"I don't know that. He might perhaps have become one, if 

he had had time to ripen (smiling) . He might have exuberated 

into an Atheist." 

15 "I love ' Blair's Sermons.' Though the dog is a Scotchman, 
and a Presbyterian, and everything he should not be, I was 
the first to praise them. Such was my candour" (smiling). 
Mrs. Boscawen. "Such his great merit, to get the better of 
your prejudices." Johnson. "Why, Madam, let us com- 

20 pound the matter ; let us ascribe it to my candour, and his 
merit." 

He and I walked away together ; we stopped a little while 
by the rails of the Adelphi, looking on the Thames, and I said 
to him with some emotion, that I was now thinking of two 

25 friends we had lost, who once lived in the buildings behind us, 
Beauclerk and Garrick. "Ay, Sir, (said he, tenderly,) and 
two such friends as cannot be supplied." 

I had the pleasure of again dining with him and Mr. Wilkes, 
at Mr. Dilly's. No negociation was now required to bring 

30 them together; Wilkes was this day seated between Dr. 
Beattie and Dr. Johnson (between Truth and Reason, as 
General Paoli said, when I told him of it). Wilkes. "Pray, 
Boswell, how much may be got in a year by an Advocate at the 
Scotch bar ? " Boswell. "I believe, two thousand pounds." 

35 Wilkes. "How can it be possible to spend that money in 
Scotland?" Johnson. "Why, Sir, the money may be 
spent in England ; but there is a harder question. If one man 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 289 

in Scotland gets possession of two thousand pounds, what 
remains for all the rest of the nation?" Wilkes. "You 
know, in the last war, the immense booty which Thurot 
carried off by the complete plunder of seven Scotch isles ; he 
re-embarked with three and six-pence" 5 

The subject of quotation being introduced, Mr. Wilkes 
censured it as pedantry. Johnson. "No, Sir, it is a good 
thing ; there is a community of mind in it. Classical quota- 
tion is the parole of literary men all over the world." 

Johnson. " It is now become so much the fashion to publish 10 
letters, that, in order to avoid it, I put as little into mine 
as I can." He gave us an entertaining account of Bet 
Flint, a woman of the town, who was taken up on a charge 
of stealing a counterpane, and tried at the Old Bailey. Chief 

Justice summed up favourably, and she was acquitted. 15 

After which, Bet said, with a gay and satisfied air, "Now that 
the counterpane is my own, I shall make a petticoat of it." 

Talking of oratory, Mr. Wilkes described it as accom- 
panied with all the charms of poetical expression. Johnson. 
: No, Sir; oratory is the power of beating down your adver- 20 
sary 's arguments, and putting better in their place. ' ' Wilkes. 
I But this does not move the passions." Johnson. "He must 
be a weak man who is to be so moved." 

Mr. Wilkes observed, how tenacious we are of forms in this 
country ; and gave as an instance, the vote of the House of 25 
Commons for remitting money to pay the army in America in 
. Portugal pieces, when, in reality, the remittance is made not 
; in Portugal money, but in our specie. Johnson. "Is there 
i not a law, Sir, against exporting the current coin of the 
realm?" Wilkes. "Yes, Sir; but might not the House of 30 
1 Commons order our own current dpin to be sent into our own 
colonies ? " — Here Johnson gave the Middlesex Patriot an 
admirable retort upon his own ground. "Sure, Sir, you 
don't think a resolution of the House of Commons equal to the 
law of the land" Wilkes, (at once perceiving the applica-35 
tion)° "God forbid, Sir." 

Mr. Wilkes said to me, loud enough for Dr. Johnson to 
u 



290 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

hear, "Dr. Johnson should make me a present of his ' Lives of 
the Poets/ as I am a poor patriot, who cannot afford to buy 
them." Johnson seemed to take no notice of this hint; but 
in a little while, he called to Mr. Dilly, "Pray, Sir, be so good 
5 as to send a set of my Lives to Mr. Wilkes, with my compli- 
ments." This was accordingly done; and Mr. Wilkes paid 
Dr. Johnson a visit, was courteously received, and sat with 
him a long time. 

The company gradually dropped away. Mr. Dilly himself 

10 was called down stairs upon business ; I left the room for some 
time; when I returned, I was struck with observing Dr. 
Samuel Johnson and John Wilkes, Esq. literally tete-a-tete ; for 
they were reclined upon their chairs, with their heads leaning 
almost close to each other, and tanking earnestly, in a kind 

15 of confidential whisper, of the personal quarrel between 
George the Second and the King of Prussia. Such a scene of 
perfectly easy sociality between two such opponents in the war 
of political controversy would have been an excellent subject 
for a picture. It presented to my mind the happy days which 

20 are foretold in Scripture, when the lion shall lie down with 
the kid. 

It was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening 
assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in conversa- 
tion with literary and ingenious men. These societies were 

25 denominated Blue-stocking Clubs . One of the most eminent 
members was Mr. Stillingfleet, who wore blue stockings. 
Such was the excellence of his conversation, that it used to be 
said, "We can do nothing without the blue-stockings ;" 
and thus by degrees the title was established. Miss Hannah 

30 More has admirably described a Blue-stocking Club, in her 
"Bas Bleur 

Miss Monckton used to have the finest bit of blue at the 
house of her mother, Lady Galway. Her vivacity enchanted 
the Sage, and they used to talk together with all imaginable 

35 ease. She insisted that some of Sterne's writings were very 
pathetick. Johnson bluntly denied it. "I am sure (said 
she,) they have affected me" — " Why (said Johnson, smiling, 



M 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 291 

and rolling himself about) that is, because, dearest, you're 

a dunce." When she sometimes afterwards mentioned 

this to him, he said with equal truth and politeness: 

' " Madam, if I had thought so, I certainly should not 

; have said it." 5 

At the Duke of Montrose's his grace had circulated the 

bottle very freely. I went to Miss Monckton's, where I 

placed myself next to Johnson, and talked to him in a loud and 

boisterous manner, desirous to let the company know how I 

1 could contend with Ajax. "What, Sir, supposing I were to 10 

fancy that the (naming the most charming Duchess in 

his Majesty's dominions) were in love with me, should I not be 
very happy ? " My friend kept me as quiet as possible ; but it 
| may easily be conceived how he must have felt. However, 
; when I made an apology, he behaved with the most friendly 15 
gentleness. 

In 1763, a young bookseller, Mr. Whiston, waited on him 
with a subscription to his " Shakspeare : " and observing that 
the Doctor made no entry of the subscriber's name, ven- 
tured diffidently to ask, whether he would please to have the 20 
gentleman's address, that it might be properly inserted in 
the printed list of subscribers. — U I shall print no List of 
Subscribers ;" said Johnson, with great abruptness : but al- 
most immediately recollecting himself, added, very com- 
placently, " Sir, I have two very cogent reasons for not printing 25 
any list of subscribers ; — one, that I have lost all the names, 
— the other, that I have spent all the money." 

Johnson could not brook appearing to be worsted in argu- 
ment, even when he had taken the wrong side. When, there- 
fore, he perceived that his opponent gained ground, he had 30 
: recourse to some sudden mode of robust sophistry. Once 
when I was pressing upon him with visible advantage, he 
stopped me thus : — "My dear Boswell, let's have no more of 
this ; you'll make nothing of it. I'd rather have you whistle a 
Scotch tune." 35 

He had all his life habituated himself to consider conver- 
sation as a trial of intellectual vigour and skill. As a proof 



292 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

at once of his eagerness for colloquial distinction, he once 

addressed an eminent friend thus: " , we now have 

been several hours together; and you have said but one 
thing for which I envied you." 
5 Dr. Shaw, the great traveller, used to say, "I hate a cut bono 
man." Upon being asked what he should think of a man who 
was apt to say non est tanti; — "That he's a stupid felkrw, 
Sir, (answered Johnson) : What would these tanti men 
be doing the wiiile?" When I in a low-spirited fit, was 

10 enquiring a reason for taking so much trouble ; "Sir (said he, 
in an animated tone) it is driving on the system of life." 

Dr. Shebbeare deserves to be remembered for his "Letters 
on the English Nation/' under the name of " Battista Angeloni, 
Jesuit." Johnson and Shebbeare ° were frequently named 

15 together, as having in former reigns had no predilection for 
the family of Hanover. 

A project for having a third Theatre in London solely 
for new plays, in order to deliver authours from the supposed 
tyranny of managers, Johnson treated slightingly ; upon which 

20 Goldsmith said, "Ay, ay, this may be nothing to you, who can 
now shelter yourself behind the corner of a pension';" and 
Johnson bore this with good-humour. 

"Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. 
He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship 

25 of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have 
been at pains to attach to you." 

He was pleased that a carpenter, who lived near him, was 
very ready to shew him some things in his business which 
he wished to see : "It was paying (said he,) respect to litera- 

30ture." 

I asked him, if he was not dissatisfied with having so small 
a share of wealth. He had only a pension of three hundred a 
year. Why was he not in such circumstances as to keep his 
coach? Johnson. "Sir, I have never complained of the 

35 world; nor do I think that I have reason to complain. It 
is rather to be wondered at that I have so much. My pension 
is more out of the usual course of things than any instance that 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 293 

I have known. Here, Sir, was a man avowedly no friend to 
Government at the time, who got a pension without asking 
for it. I never courted the great ; they sent for me ; but I 
think they now give me up. They are satisfied : they have 
seen enough of me. No, Sir; great Lords and great 5 
Ladies don't love to have their mouths stopped/' 

Mrs. Thrale justly and wittily accounted for such conduct 
by saying, that Johnson's conversation was by much too 
strong for a person accustomed to obsequiousness and flattery ; 
it was mustard in a young child's mouth ! 10 

Johnson. "A wise Tory and a wise Whig, I believe, will 
agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes 
of thinking are different. A high Tory makes government 
unintelligible : it is lost in the clouds. A violent Whig makes 
it impracticable : he is for allowing so much liberty to every 15 
man, that there is not power enough to govern any man. 
The prejudice of the Tory is for establishment; The prej- 
udice of the Whig is for innovation." 

Dr. Johnson agreed to be of the party this year, with Mr. 
Charles Dilly and me, and to go and see Lord Bute's seat 20 
at Luton Hoe. He talked little in the carriage, being chiefly 
occupied in reading Dr. Watson's " Chemical Essays," 
and his own " Prince of Abyssinia," having told us, that he 
had not looked at it since it was first published. I happened 
to take it out of my pocket this day, and he seized upon it 25 
with avidity. 

At Welwin I wished much to see, in company with Johnson, 
the residence of the authour of "Night Thoughts," then 
possessed by his son, Mr. Young. Here some address was 
requisite. I therefore concerted with Mr. Dilly, that I should 30 
steal away from Dr. Johnson and him, and tr}^ what reception 
I could procure. I hastened to Mr. Young's, and found he was 
at home. I begged pardon for presuming to trouble him, but 
that I wished much to see his place, if he would give me leave ; 
"By all means, Sir ; we are just going to drink tea ; will you 35 
sit down ? " I thanked him, but said that Dr. Johnson had 
come with me from London, and I must return to the inn to 



294 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

drink tea with him. "Sir, (said he), I should think it a great 
honour to see Dr. Johnson here. Will }^ou allow me to send 
for him?" I said that "I would go myself and bring him, 
when he had drunk tea ; he knew nothing of my calling here/' 
5 1 hastened back to the inn, and informed Dr. Johnson that 
"Mr. Young, son of Dr. Young, the authour of ' Night 
Thoughts/ whom I had just left, desired to have the honour of 
seeing him at the house where his father lived." Dr. Johnson 
luckily made no enquiry how this invitation had arisen, but 

10 agreed to go, and when we entered Mr. Young's parlour, he 
addressed him with a very polite bow, "Sir, I had a curiosity 
to come and see this place. I had the honour to know that 
great man, your father." 

We sat some time in the summer-house, on the outside wall 

15 of which was inscribed, " Ambulantes in horto audiebant vocem 
Dei." We went into the church, and looked at the monu- 
ment erected by Mr. Young to his father. 

"Do not, Sir," said Johnson, " accustom yourself to trust to 
impressions. There is a middle state of mind between convic- 

20tion and hypocrisy, of which many are unconscious. By 
trusting to impressions, a man may gradually come to yield 
to them, and at length be subject to them, so as not to be a 
free agent, or what is the same thing in effect, to suppose 
that he is not a free agent." 

25 Dr. Gibbons, the Dissenting minister, being mentioned, he 

said, "I took to Dr. Gibbons. Tell him, if he'll call on me, and 

dawdle over a dish of tea in an afternoon, I shall take it kind." 

" I wish that I had copies of all the pamphlets written 

against me, as it is said Pope had. Had I known that I should 

30 make so much noise in the world, I should have been at pains 
to collect them. I believe there is hardly a day in which there 
is not something about me in the news-papers." 

When shewn the botanical garden, "Is not every garden a 
botanical garden ? " When told that there was a shrubbe^ to 

35 the extent of several miles: ''That is making a very foolish 
use of the ground ; a little of it is very well." When it was 
proposed that we should walk on the pleasure-ground; 



_ 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 295 

" Don't let us fatigue ourselves. Why should we walk there ? 
Here's a fine tree, let's get to the top of it." But upon the 
whole, he was very much pleased. He said, "This is one of 
the places I do not regret having come to see." 

I put him in mind of his promise to favour me with a copy 5 
of his celebrated Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield, and he 
was at last pleased to comply, by dictating from his memory. 
There was an animated glow in his countenance while he 
thus recalled his high-minded indignation. 

"If every attempt," said he, "however light or ludicrous, to 10 
lessen another's reputation, is to be punished by a judicial sen- 
tence, what punishment can be sufficiently severe for him who 
attempts to diminish the reputation of the Supreme Court of Jus- 
tice, by reclaiming upon a cause already determined, without 
any change in the state of the question ? Does it not imply 15 
hopes that the Judges will change their opinion ? Is not un- 
certainty and inconstancy in the highest degree disreputable 
to a Court ? Does it not suppose that the former judgement 
was temerarious or negligent ? Does it, not lessen the confi- 
dence of the publick ? Will not he who knows himself wrong 20 
to-day, hope that the Courts of Justice will think him right 
to-morrow? " 

I mentioned a friend of mine having resolved never to marry 
a pretty woman. Johnson. "Sir, it is a very foolish resolu- 
tion. Beauty is of itself very estimable. No, Sir,. I would 25 

I prefer a pretty woman, unless there are objections -to her. A 
pretty woman may be foolish; a pretty woman may be 
wicked ; a pretty woman may not like me. But there is no 
such danger in marrying a pretty woman as is apprehended ; 

' she will not be persecuted if she does not invite persecution . 30 
A pretty woman, if she has a mind to be wicked, can find a 
^adier way than another ; and that is all." 

To Bennet Langton. 

"You will, perhaps, be glad to hear, that Mrs. Thrale is 
| disincumbered of her brewhouse ; and that it seemed to the 35 
; purchaser so far from an evil, that he was content to give for 



296 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

it an hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds. Is the nation 
ruined? Sam. Johnson." 

Johnson's charity to the poor was uniform and extensive, 

judicious as well as humane. When he asked money for 

5 persons in distress, and Mr. Metcalfe offered what Johnson 

thought too much, he insisted on taking less, saying, "Xoj no, 

Sir; we must not pamper them." 

A friend of Dr. Burney's, the late Mr. Bewley, the Philoso- 
pher of Massingham, had conceived such a reverence for 
10 him, that he earnestly begged Dr. Burney to give him the 
cover of the first letter he received as a relick. When Dr. 
Burney visited Dr. Johnson at the Temple, finding himself 
alone, he examined the contents of the apartment, to try 
whether he could undiscovered steal any thing to send to his 
15 friend Bewley, as another relick of the admirable Dr. Johnson. 
Finding nothing better to his purpose, he cut some bristles 
off his hearthbroom, and enclosed them in a letter to his 
country enthusiast, who received them with due reverence. 
In one of his little memorandum-books is the following 
20 minute : 

" August 9, 3 P.M. aetat. 72, in the summer-house at Streat- 
ham. 

" After innumerable resolutions formed and neglected, I 
have retired hither, to plan a life of greater diligence. 
25 " My purpose is, 

"To pass eight hours ever}' day in some serious employ- 
ment. 

"Having prayed, I purpose to employ the next six weeks 
upon the Italian language, for my settled study." 
30 "I am glad the ministry is removed. Such a bunch of 
imbecility never disgraced a country. If they sent a mes- 
senger into the City to take up a printer, the messenger wj I 
taken up instead of the printer, and committed by the sitth** 
Alderman. If they sent one army to the relief of another, ttu 
35 first army was defeated and taken before the second arrived. 
I will not say that what they did was always wrong ; but it 
was always done at a wrong time." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 297 

To Captain Langton. 

"Of my life, from the time we parted, the history is mourn- 
ful. The spring of last year deprived me of Thrale, a man 
whose eye for fifteen years had scarcely been turned upon me 
but with respect or tenderness ; for such another friend, the 5 
general course of human things will not suffer man to hope. I 
passed the Summer at Streatham, but there was no Thrale; 
and having idled away the summer with a weakly body and 
neglected mind, I made a journey to Staffordshire on the edge 
of winter. The season was dreary, I was sickly, and found the 10 
friends sickly whom I went to see. After a sorrowful sojourn, 
I returned to a habitation possessed for the present by two 
sick women, where my dear old friend, Mr. Levet, to whom as 
he used to tell me, I owe your acquaintance, died a few weeks 
ago, suddenly in his bed; there passed not, I believe, a min- 15 
ute between health and death. At night, as at Mrs. Thrale's 
I was musing in my chamber, I thought with uncommon 
earnestness, that however I might alter my mode of life, or 
whithersoever I might remove, I would endeavour to retain 
Levet about me ; in the morning my servant brought me 20 
word that Levet was called to another state, a state for which, 
I think, he was not unprepared, for he was very useful to the 
poor. How much soever I valued him, I now wish that I had 
valued him more. Sam. Johnson.' ' 

Some obscure scribbler had published at Edinburgh, what 25 
he called " The Deformities of Johnson." 

To Boswell. 

"The pleasure which we used to receive from each other 
on Good-Friday and Easter-day, we must be this year content 
to miss. 30 

" I am sorry to find, what your solicitations seem to imply, 
that you have already gone the whole length of your credit. 
This is to set the quiet of your whole life at hazard. If you 
anticipate your inheritance, you can at last inherit nothing. 



298 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Live on what you have ; live if you can on less ; do not borrow 
either for vanity or pleasure ; the vanity will end in shame, 
and the pleasure in regret : stay therefore at home, till you 
have saved money for your journey hither. 
5 " ' The Beauties of Johnson ' are said to have got money to 
the collector ; if the ' Deformities ' have the same success, I 
shall be still a more extensive benefactor. " 

" Poverty takes away so many means of doing good, and pro- 
duces so much inability to resist evil, both natural and moral, 
10 that it is by all virtuous means to be avoided. Of riches it is 
not necessary to write the praise. Let it, however, be remem- 
bered, that he who has money to spare, has it always in his 
power to benefit others ; and of such power a good man must 
always be desirous. Sam. Johnson. " 

15 To Mr. Perkins. 

" Observe these rules: 

"1. Turn all care out of your head as soon as you mount 
the chaise. 

"2. Do not think about frugality; your health is worth 
20 more than it can cost. 

a 3. Do not continue any day's journey to fatigue. 
"4. Take now and then a day's rest. 
"q. Get a smart sea sickness, if you can. 
"6. Cast away all anxiety, and keep your mind easy. 
25 "This last direction is the principal; with an unquiet 
mind, neither exercise, nor diet, nor physick, can be of much 
use." 

TO B0SWELL.° 

" Life, as Cowley seems to say, ought to resemble a well- 
30 ordered poem; of which one rule generally received is, that 
the exordium should be simple, and should promise little. 
Do not think your estate your own, while any man can call 
upon you for money which you cannot pay ; therefore, begin 
with timorous parsimony. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 299 

" I am afraid that health begins, after seventy, and long 
before, to have a meaning different from that which it had 
at thirty. But it is culpable to murmur at the established 
order of. the creation, as it is vain to oppose it. He that 
lives, must grow old; and he that would rather grow old 5 
than die, has God to thank for the infirmities of old age. 
Sam. Johnson." 

The death of Mr. Thrale had made a very material altera- 
tion with respect to Johnson's reception in that family. 
The manly authority of the husband no longer curbed the 10 
lively exuberance of the lady; and as her vanity had been 
fully gratified, by having the Colossus of Literature attached 
to her for many years, she gradually became less assiduous 
to please him. It is plain that Johnson's penetration was 
alive to her neglect or forced attention ; for on the 6th of 15 
October, 1782, we find him making a " parting use of the 
library " at Streatham, and pronouncing a prayer, which he 
composed on leaving Mr. Thrale's family. 

" Almighty God, Father of all mercy, help me by thy grace, 
that I may, with humble and sincere thankfulness, remember 20 
the comforts and conveniencies which I have enjoyed 
at this place; and that I may resign them with holy 
submission, equally trusting in thy protection when Thou 
givest, and when Thou takest away. Have mercy upon me, 
Lord, have mercy upon me. 25 

"To thy fatherly protection, Lord, I commend this 
family. Bless, guide, and defend them, that they may so 
pass through this world, as finally to enjoy in thy presence 
everlasting happiness, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." 

In one of his memorandum-books I find "Sunday, went to 30 
church at' Streatham. Templo valedixi ° cum osculo." 

Mr. Metcalfe sent him a note that he might have the use 
of his carriage whenever he pleased. Johnson returned this 
polite answer : — "Mr. Johnson is very much obliged by the 
kind offer of the carriage, but he has no desire of using Mr. 35 
Metcalfe's carriage, except when he can have the pleasure of 
Mr. Metcalfe's company." 



300 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

I was glad to find him at Mrs. Thrale's house, appearances 
of friendship between them being still kept up. I was shewn 
into his room. He said, "I am glad you are come : I am very 
ill." Seeing me now for the first time as a Laird, or proprietor 
5 of land, he began thus: "Sir, the superiority of a country- 
gentleman over the people upon his estate is very agreeable : 
and he who says he does not feel it to be agreeable, lies ; for 
it must be agreeable to have a casual superiority over those 
who are by nature equal with us." 

10 "Sir, (said he, in a low voice, having come nearer to me, 

while his old prejudices seemed to be fermenting in his mind), 

this Hanoverian family is isolee here. They have no friends. 7 ' 

Talking of conversation, he said, "There must, in the first 

place, be knowledge, there must be materials ; — in the sec- 

15 ond place, there must be a command of words ; — in the third 
place, there must be imagination, to place things in such 
views as they are not commonly seen in ; — and in the fourth 
place, there must be presence of mind, and a resolution that 
is not to be overcome by failures ; this last is an essential re- 

20 quisite ; for want of it many people do not excel in conversa- 
tion. Now I want it; I throw up the game upon losing a 
trick." — "I don't know, Sir, how this may be ; but I am sure 
you beat other people's cards out of their hands." While 
he went on talking triumphantly, I said to Mrs. Thrale, "0, 

25 for short-hand to take this down ! " — "You'll carry it all in 

your head, (said she) ; a long head is as good as short-hand." 

"Fox never talks in private company. A man who is used 

to the applause of the House of Commons, has no wish for 

that of a private company. A man accustomed to throw for a 

30 thousand pounds, if set down to throw for sixpence, would not 
be at the pains to count his dice. Burke's talk is the ebulli- 
tion of his mind ; he does not talk from a desire of distinction, 
but because his mind is full." 

He thus characterized one of our old acquaintances : 

35 " [Sheridan] is a good man, Sir ; but he is a vain man and a 
liar. He, however, only tells lies of vanity ; of victories, for 
instance, in conversation, which never happened." This 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 301 

alluded to a story which I had repeated from that gentleman, 
to entertain Johnson with its wild bravado : "This Johnson, 
Sir, (said he), whom you are all afraid of, will shrink, if you 
come close to him in argument, and roar as loud as he. He 
once maintained the paradox, that there is no beauty but in 5 
utility. 'Sir, (said I), what say you to the peacock's tail, 
which is one of the most beautiful objects in nature.' He 
felt what I thus produced, and had recourse to his usual ex- 
pedient, ridicule ; exclaiming, 'A peacock has a tail, and a fox 
has a tail ; ; and then he burst out into a laugh. — ' Well, Sir, 10 
(said I, with a strong voice, looking him full in the face), you 
have unkennelled your fox ; pursue him if you dare.' He had 
not a word to say, Sir." — Johnson told me, that this was 
fiction from beginning to end. 

He said, "I wonder how I should have any enemies; for 15 
I do harm to nobody." Boswell. "In the first place, Sir, 
you will be pleased to recollect, that you set out with attack- 
ing the Scotch ; so you got a whole nation for your enemies." 
Johnson. "Why, I own, that by my definition of oats I 
meant to vex them." Boswell. "Pray, Sir, can you trace 20 
the cause of your antipathy to the Scotch?" Johnson. "I 
cannot, Sir." Boswell. "Old Mr. Sheridan says, it was 
because they sold Charles the First." Johnson. "Then, 
Sir, old Mr. Sheridan has found out a very good reason." 

He was but an unruly patient, for Sir Lucas Pepys said, 25 
"If you were tractable, Sir, I should prescribe for you." 

Johnson. The King is as much oppressed as a man can 
be. If he plays one against another, he wins nothing." 

Johnson seemed much relieved, having taken opium. He 
protested against it, as a remedy that should be given only 30 
in extreme necessity. I mentioned how commonly it was 
used in Turkey. He grew warm. "Turks take opium, but 
Russell tells us that it is as disgraceful in Turkey to take too 
much opium, as it is with us to get drunk. Sir, it is amazing 
how things are exaggerated." 35 

Mrs. Desmoulins made tea ; and she and I talked before 
him upon his not complaining of the world, because he was 



302 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

not called to some great office, nor had attained to great 
wealth. He flew into a violent passion. " Nobody, (said 
he), has a right to talk in this manner, to bring before a man 
his own character, and the events of his life, when he does not 
5 choose it should be done. I never have sought the world; 
the world was not to seek me." 

He was somewhat fretful from his illness. A gentleman 
asked him whether he had been abroad to-day. "Don't 
talk so childishly (said he) . You may as well ask if I hanged 
10 myself to-day." I mentioned politicks. Johnson. "Sir, 
I'd as soon have a man to break my bones as talk to me of 
public affairs, internal or external. I have lived to see things 
all as bad- as they can be." 

He said, "Goldsmith's blundering speech to Lord Shel- 

loburne was only a blunder in emphasis: — 'I wonder they 

should call your Lordship Malagrida, for Malagrida was a very 

good man ; ' — meant, I wonder they should use Malagrida as 

a term of reproach." 

He had revised "The Village," by the Reverend Mr. 
20 Crabbe. Its sentiments as to the false notions of rustick 
happiness and rustick virtue, were quite congenial with his 
own. 

Dr. Brocklesby mentioned a gentleman, who became ex- 
tremely penurious near the close of his life. Johnson said 
25 there must have been a degree of madness. "Not at all, Sir, 
(said Dr. Brocklesby), his judgement was entire." Unluckily, 
however, he mentioned that although he had a fortune of 
twenty-seven thousand pounds, he denied himself many com- 
forts. "Xay, Sir, (cried Johnson), when the judgement is so 
30 disturbed that a man cannot count, that is pretty well." 

"Raising the wages of day-labourers is wrong; for it does 
not make them live better, but only makes them idler." 

"Keeping accounts, Sir, is of no use when a man is 
spending his own money, and has nobody to whom he 
35 is to account. You won't eat less beef to-day, because you 
have written down what it cost yesterday." 

Talking of an acquaintance of ours, whose narratives, which 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 303 

abounded in curious and interesting topicks, were unhappily 
found to be very fabulous, Lord Mansfield said, " Suppose we 
believe one half of what he tells." Johnson. "Ay; but 
we don't know which half to believe. By his lying. we lose 
not only our reverence for him, but all comfort in his conver- 5 
sation." Boswell. "May we not take it as amusing fic- 
tion?" Johnson. "Sir, the misfortune is, that you will 
insensibly believe as much of it as you incline to believe." 

"Depend upon it, Sir, it is when you come close to a man in 
conversation, that you discover what his real abilities are ; 10 
to make a speech in a publick assembly is a knack. Now I 
honour Thurlow, Sir; Thurlow is a fine fellow; he fairly 
puts his mind to yours." 

I said, "It is a pity, Sir, you don't always remember your 
own good things, that you may have a laugh when you will." 15 
Johnson. "Nay, Sir, it is better that I forget them, that I 
may be reminded of them, and have a laugh on their being 
brought to my recollection." 

I recalled to him his having said as we sailed up Loch- 
lomond, "That if he wore any thing fine, it should be very 20 
fine." Johnson. "Depend upon it, Sir, every man will 
have as fine a thing as he can get; as large a diamond for 
his ring." 

I told him I should send some "Essays," which I had writ- 
ten, which I hoped he would be so good as to read, and 25 
pick out the good ones. Johnson. "Nay, Sir, send me only 
the good ones ; don't make me pick them." 

I was going to sup at Mr. Beauclerk's. He said, " I'll go with 
you." After having walked part of the way, seeming to recol- 
lect something, he suddenly stopped and said, "I cannot go, 30 
— but / do not love Beauclerk the less." 

On the frame of his portrait, Mr. Beauclerk had inscribed, 

- Ingenium ingens ° 



Inculto latet hoc sub corpore." 

After Mr. Beauclerk's death, when it became Mr. Langton's 35 
property, he made the inscription be defaced. Johnson said 



304 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

complacently, "It was kind in you to take it off; " and then 
after a short pause, added, "and not unkind in him to put 
it on." 

He said, "How few of his friends' houses would a man 
6 choose to be at, when he is sick !" He mentioned one or two. 
I recollect only Thrale's. 

He observed, "There is a wicked inclination in most people 
to suppose an old man decayed in his intellects. If a young or 
middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect 

10 where he laid his hat, it is nothing ; but if the same inatten- 
tion is discovered in an old man, people will shrug up their 
shoulders, and say, 'His memory is going.'" 

Johnson thought the poems published as translations from 
Ossian, had little merit, "Sir, a man might write such stuff 

15 for ever, if he would abandon his mind to it." 

He said, "A man should pass a part of his time with the 
laughers, by which means any thing ridiculous or particular 
about him might be presented to his view, and corrected." 
He must have been a bold laugher who would have ventured 

20 to tell Dr. Johnson of any of his particularities. 

Dr. Goldsmith once said to Dr. Johnson, that he wished for 
some additional members to the Literary Club, to give it an 
agreeable variety; for (said he), there can now be nothing 
new among us : we have travelled over one another's minds. 

25 Johnson seemed a little angry, "Sir, you have not travelled 
over my mind, I promise you." Sir Joshua, however, thought 
Goldsmith right; observing, that "when people have lived a 
great deal together, they know what each of them will say on 
every subject. A new understanding, therefore, is desirable. 

30 Colouring is of much effect in every thing else as well as in 
painting." 

Johnson used to say that he made it a constant rule to talk 
as well as he could, both as to sentiment and expression. 
Sir Joshua observed, that his common conversation in all 

35 companies was such as to secure him universal attention, as 
something above the usual colloquial style was expected. 
Yet, when another mode was necessary, in order to investigate 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 305 

truth, Johnson could descend to a language intelligible to the 
meanest capacity. At an examination of a little blackguard 
boy, by Mr. Saunders Welch, the late Westminster Justice, 
Welch, who imagined that he was exalting himself in Dr. 
Johnson's eyes by using big words, spoke in a manner that 5 
was utterly unintelligible to the boy ; Dr. Johnson perceiving 
it, addressed himself to the boy, and changed the pompous 
phraseology into colloquial language. Johnson said that he 
was always obliged to translate the Justice's swelling diction, 
(smiling,) so as that his meaning might be understood by the 10 
vulgar, from whom information was to be obtained. 

Sir Joshua once observed to him, that he had talked above 
the capacity of some people wdth whom they had been in 
company together. "No matter, Sir, (said Johnson); they 
consider it as a compliment to be talked to, as if they were 15 
wiser than they are. Baxter made it a rule in every sermon 
to say something that was above the capacity of his audience." 

I once reminded him that when Dr. Adam Smith was ex- 
patiating on the beauty of Glasgow, he cut him short by say- 
ing, "Pray, Sir, have you ever seen Brentford ? " I took the 20 
liberty to add, "My dear Sir, surely that was shocking." — 
" Why, then, Sir, (he replied), you have never seen Brentford." 

Though his usual phrase for conversation was talk, yet he 
made a distinction. "No, Sir; we had talk enough, but no 
conversation ; there was nothing discussed." 25 

Mr. Hoole told him, he had received part of his early in- 
struction in Grub-street. "Sir, (said Johnson, smiling), you 
have been regularly educated." Mr. Hoole. "My uncle, Sir, 
was a taylor;" Johnson.. "Sir, I knew him; we called 
him the metaphysical taylor. He was of a club in Old-street, 30 
with me and George Psalmanazar, and some others : but pray, 
Sir, was he a good taylor?" Mr. Hoole having answered 
that he believed he was too mathematical, and used to draw 
squares and triangles on his shop-board, so that he did not 
excel in the cut of a coat; — "I am sorry for it, (said John- 35 
son), for I would have every man to be master of his own 
business." 
x 



306 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

He often said, "Let you and I, Sir, go together, and eat a 
beef -steak in Grub-street. " 

He said, "The age is running mad after innovation; and 
all the business of the world is to be done in a new way ; men 
5 are to be hanged in a new way; they object, that the old 
method drew together a number of spectators. Sir, execu- 
tions are intended to draw spectators. If they do not draw 
spectators, they don't answer their purpose. The old method 
was most satisfactory to all parties ; the publick was gratified 
10 by a procession ; the criminal was supported by it. Why is 
all this to be swept awa} T ?" 

When his Lordship declined the honour of being Archbishop 
of Canterbury, Johnson said, "I am glad he did not go to 
Lambeth; for, after all, I fear he is a Whig in his heart." 
15 He disapproved of a parenthesis. He never used the phrases 
the former and the latter, having observed, that they often 
occasioned obscurity. Nothing is more common than to 
mistake surnames. To prevent this, he used not only to 
pronounce them slowly and distinctly, but to take the trouble 
20 of spelling them. 

I owned to him, that "I was occasionally troubled with a 
fit of narrowness." "Why, Sir, (said he), so am I. But I do 
not tell it" He has now and then borrowed a shilling of me; 
and when I asked him for it again, seemed to be rather out of 
25 humour. Once: as if he meant to reprimand my minute 
exactness as a creditor, he thus addressed me; — "Boswell, 
lend me sixpence — not to be repaid" 

He one day said to me, "Sir, when you get silver in change 
for a guinea, look carefully at it ; you may find some curious 
30 piece of coin." 

"Sir, (said he), two men of any other nation who are shewn 
into a room together, at a house where they are both visitors, 
will immediately find some conversation. But two English- 
men will probably go each to a different window, and remain 
35 in obstinate silence. Sir, we do not understand the common 
rights of humanity." 

"Pray, Sir, (said Mr. Morgann), do you reckon Derrick or 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 307 

Smart the better poet ? ' Johnson at once felt himself roused ; 
and answered, "Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency 
between a louse and a flea." 

He was pleased to say to me one morning in his study, 
"Boswell, I think I am easier with you than with almost any 5 
body." 

"Sir, there is nothing by which a man exasperates most 
people more, than by displaying a superior ability of bril- 
liancy in conversation. They seem pleased at the time ; but 
their envy makes them curse him at their hearts." 10 

Dr. Johnson could amuse himself with so slight and playful 
a species of composition as a Charade. I have recovered one 
which he made on Dr. Barnard. 

Chaeade. 

My first shuts out thieves from your house or your room, 15 

My second expresses a Syrian perfume. 

My whole is a man in whose converse is shar'd 

The strength of a Bar and the sweetness of Nard." 

"The Roman writers have not been partial, they have told 
their own story, without shame or regard to equitable treat- 20 
ment of their injured enemy. Why, Sir, they would never 
have borne Virgil's description of ^Eneas's treatment of Dido, 
if she had not been a Carthaginian." 

- Johnson's love of little children, he discovered upon all 
occasions, calling them "pretty dears," and giving them sweet- 25 
meats. 

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated 
Hodge, his cat ; for whom he himself used to go out and buy 
oysters, lest the servants, having that trouble, should take 
a dislike to the poor creature. I frequently suffered a good 30 
deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him 
scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much 
satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half -whistling, 
rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail ; and when 
I observed he was a fine cat, saying "why, yes, Sir, but 1 35 
have had cats whom I liked better than this ; " and then as 



308 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, "but 
he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed. Hodge shan't 
be shot: no, no, Hodge shall not be shot/ 7 

He thought Mr. Beauclerk made a shrewd and judicious 
5 remark to Air. Langton, who, after having been for the first 
time in company with a well known wit, was warmly admiring 
and praising him, — "See him again/ 7 said Beauclerk. 

Mr. Seward saw him presented to the Archbishop of York, 
and described his Bow to an Archbishop, as such a studied 

10 elaboration of homage, such an extension of limb, such a 
flexion of body, as have seldom or ever been equalled. 

The tour to the Hebrides was mentioned. — Johxsox. "I 
got an acquisition of more ideas by it than by any thing that 
I remember.' 7 Bo swell. "You would not like to make the 

15 same journey again?" Johxsox. "Why no, Sir; not the 
same : it is a tale told. Gravina observes, that every man 
desires to see that of which he has read ; but no man desires 
to read an account of what he has seen ; so much does de- 
scription fall short of reality. Description only excites curi- 

20 osity : seeing satisfies it." 

"A man cannot tell a priori what will be best for government 
to do. This reign has been very unfortunate. We have had 
an unsuccessful war ; but that does not prove that we have 
been ill governed. One side or other must prevail in war, as 

25 one or other must win at play. When we beat Louis, we were 
not better governed; nor were the French better governed, 
when Louis beat us." 

Mr. Windham, though a Whig, he highly valued. One of 
the best things he ever said was to this gentleman; who, 

30 before he set out for Ireland as Secretary to Lord Northing- 
ton, expressed to the Sage some modest and virtuous doubts, 
whether he could bring himself to practise those arts which it 
is supposed a person in that situation has occasion to employ. 
"Don't be afraid, Sir, (said Johnson, with a pleasant smile,) 

35 you will soon make a very pretty rascal." 

He talked to-day a good deal of the wonderful extent and 
variety of London, and observed, that men of curious enquiry 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 309 

might see in it such modes of life as very few could even im- 
agine. He in particular recommended to us to explore Wap- 
ping, which we resolved to do. 

Mr. Lowe was very much distressed that a large picture 
which he had painted was refused to be received into the Ex- 5 
hibition of the Royal Academy. He now gave Mr. Lowe the 
following. 

To Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

"Mr. Lowe considers himself as cut off from all credit 
and all hope, by the rejection of his picture from the Exhibi- 10 
tion. Upon this work he has exhausted all his powers, and 
suspended all his expectations. Sam. Johnson/' 

Such intercession was too powerful to be resisted ; and Mr. 
Lowe's performance was admitted at Somerset Place. 

On Good-Friday, I found him at breakfast, in his usual 15 
manner upon that day, drinking tea without milk, and eating 
a cross bun to prevent faintness; we went to St. Clement's 
church, as formerly. When we came home from church, he 
placed himself on one of the stone-seats at his garden-door, 
and I took the other, and thus in the open air, and in a placid 20 
frame of mind, he talked away very easily. Johnson. "Were 
I a country gentleman, I should not be very hospitable, I 
should not have crowds in my house." Boswell. "Sir 
Alexander Dick tells me, that he remembers having a thou- 
sand people in a year to dine at his house ; that is, reckoning 25 
each person as one, each time that he dined there." John- 
son. "That, Sir, is about three a day." Boswell. "How 
your statement lessens the idea." Johnson. "That, Sir, 
is the good of counting. It brings every thing to a certainty 
which before floated in the mind indefinitely." Boswell. 30 
"But Omne ignotum pro magnifico est : one is sorry to have this 
diminished." Johnson. "Sir, you should not allow your- 
self to be delighted with errour." Boswell. "Three a day 
seem but few." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, he who entertains 
three a day, does very liberally. And if there is a large fam- 35 



310 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ily, the poor entertain those three, for they eat what the poor 
would get : there must be superfluous meat ; it must be given 
to the poor, or thrown out." Boswell. "I observe in 
London, that the poor go about and gather bones, which I 
5 understand are manufactured." Johnson. "Yes, Sir; they 
boil them, and extract a grease from them for greasing wheels 
and other purposes. Of the best pieces they make a mock 
ivory, which is used for hafts to knives, and various other 
things ; the coarser pieces they burn, and pound, and sell the 

10 ashes." Boswell. "For what purpose, Sir?" Johnson. 
"Why, Sir, for making a furnace for the chemists for melting 
iron. A paste made of burnt bones will stand a stronger heat 
than any thing else. Consider, Sir ; if you are to melt iron, 
you cannot line your pot with brass, because it is softer than 

15 iron, and would melt sooner ; nor with iron, for though malle- 
able iron is harder than cast iron, yet it would not do ; but 
a paste of burnt-bones will not melt." Boswell. "Do you 
know, Sir, I have discovered a manufacture to a great extent, 
of what you only piddle at, — scraping and drying the peel of 

20 oranges. At a place in Newgate-street, there is a prodigious 
quantity prepared, which they sell to the distillers." John- 
son. "Sir, I believe they make a higher thing out of them 
than a spirit ; they make what is called orange-butter, the 
oil of the orange inspissated, which they mix perhaps with 

25 common pomatum, and make it fragrant. The oil does 
not fry off in the drying." 

Boswell. "I wish to have a good walled garden." John- 
son. "I don't think it would be worth the expence to you. 
We compute, in England, a park-wall at a thousand pounds 

30 a mile ; now a garden-wall must cost at least as much. But 
when will you get the value of two hundred pounds of walls, 
in fruit, in your climate? Xo, Sir, such contention with 
Nature is not worth while. I would plant an orchard, and 
have plenty of such fruit as ripen well in your country. My 

35 friend, Dr. Madden, of Ireland, said, that, 'in an orchard there 
should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be 
stolen, and enough to rot upon the ground.' Cherries are an 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 311 

early fruit, you may have them ; and you may have the early 
apples and pears. " Boswell. "We cannot have non- 
pareils." Johnson. " Sir, you can no more have nonpareils, 
than you can have grapes. " Boswell. "We have them, 
Sir; but they are very bad." Johnson. "Nay, Sir, never 5 
try to have a thing, merely to shew that you cannot have it." 
Johnson. "A hot-house is pretty certain; but you must 
first build it, then you must keep fires in it, and you must 
have a gardener to take care of it." Boswell. "I'd have it 
near my house." Johnson. " Yes, I'd have it near my house. 10 
— I would plant a great many currants ; the fruit is good, 
and they make a pretty sweetmeat." 

Mr. Walker, the celebrated master of elocution, came in, 
and then we went up stairs into the study. I asked him if 
he had taught many clergymen. Johnson. "I hope not. 15 
Were he the best reader in the world, I would not have it 
told that he was taught." Here was one of his peculiar 
prejudices. 

Walker. "Do you think, Sir, that there are any perfect 
synonimes in any language ? " Johnson. "Originally, there 20 
were not ; but by using words negligently, or in poetry, one 
word comes to be confounded with another." 

Garrick's funeral was talked of as extravagantly expensive. 
Johnson, from his dislike to exaggeration, would not allow that 
it was distinguished by any extraordinary pomp. "Were 25 
there not six horses to each coach?" said Mrs. Burney. 
Johnson. "Madam, there were no more six horses than six 
phoenixes." 

Johnson. " It is said there are no weak or deformed people 
among the Indians; the hardship of their lives as hunters 30 
and fishers, does not allow weak or diseased children to grow 
up. Now had I been an Indian, I must have died early ; my 
eyes would not have served me to get food. I indeed now 
could fish, give me English tackle ; but had I been an Indian, 
I must have starved, or they would have knocked me on the 35 
head, when they saw I could do nothing." Boswell. "Per- 
haps they would have taken care of you ; we are told they are 



312 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

fond of oratory, — you would have talked to them." John- 
son. "Nay, Sir, I should not have lived long enough to be 
fit to talk; I should have been dead before I was ten years 
old. Depend upon it, Sir, a savage, when he is hungry, will 
5 not carry about with him a looby of nine years old, who can- 
not help himself. They have no affection, Sir." "Sir, 
natural affection is nothing : but affection from principle and 
established duty, is sometimes wonderfully strong." Lowe. 
"A hen, Sir, will feed her chickens in preference to herself." 

10 Johnson. "But we don't know that the hen is hungry ; let 
the hen be fairly hungry, and I'll warrant she'll peck the corn 
herself. A cock, I believe, will feed hens instead of himself ; 
but we don't know that the cock is hungry." Boswell. 
"And that. Sir, is not from affection but gallantry. But some 

15 of the Indians have affection." Johnson. "Sir, that they 
help some of their children is plain ; for some of- them live, 
which they could not do without being helped." 

A near relation of mine had killed his antagonist in a duel, 
and was himself dangerously wounded. Johnson. "I do 

20 not see, Sir, that fighting is absolutely forbidden in Scripture ; 
I see revenge forbidden, but not self-defence." Boswell. 
"The Quakers say it is ; 'Unto him that smiteth thee on one 
cheek, offer him also the other.'" Johnson. "But stay, 
Sir ; the text is meant only to have the effect of moderating 

25 passion ; it is plain that we are not to take it in a literal sense. 
We see this from the context, where there are other recom- 
mendations, which I warrant you the Quaker will not take 
literally; as, for instance, 'From him that would borrow of 
thee, turn thou not away.' Let a man whose credit is bad, 

30 come to a Quaker, and say, 'Well, Sir, lend me a hundred 
pounds;' he'll find him as unwilling as any other man." 

We talked of the accusation against a gentleman for sup- 
posed delinquencies in India. Johnson. "What founda- 
tion there is for accusation I know not, but they will not get 

35 at him. Where bad actions are committed at so great a dis- 
tance, a delinquent can obscure the evidence till the scent 
becomes cold ; therefore all distant power is bad. The best 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 313 

plan for the government of India is a despotick governour; 
for if he be a good man, it is evidently the best government ; 
and supposing him to be a bad man, it is better to have one 
plunderer than many." 

I mentioned the -very liberal payment for reviewing ; and 5 
that Dr. Shebbeare had received six guineas a sheet. John- 
son. "Sir, he might get six guineas for a particular sheet, 
but not communibus sheetibus." Boswell. " Are extracts 
deducted ? " Johnson. " No, Sir, it is a sheet, no matter 
of what." Boswell. "I think that is not reasonable." 10 
Johnson. "Yes, Sir, it is. A man will more easily write a 
sheet all his own, than read an octavo volume to get ex- 
tracts." A great deal, indeed, will depend upon the care and 
judgement with which extracts are made. I can suppose the 
operation to be tedious and difficult ; but in many instances 15 
we must observe crude morsels cut out of books as if at 
random ; and when a large extract is made from one place, 
it surely may be done with very little trouble. 

Mr. Sheridan, indignant at the neglect of his oratorical 
plans, had threatened to go to America. Johnson. "1 20 
hope he will go to America." Boswell. "The Americans 
don't want oratory." Johnson. "But we can want Sheri- 
dan." 

Seward. "I wonder that there should be people without 
religion." Johnson. "Sir, you need not wonder at this, 25 
when you consider how large a proportion of almost every 
man's life is passed without thinking of it. I myself was for 
some years totally regardless of religion. It had dropped 
out of my mind. It was at an early part of my life. Sick- 
ness brought it back, and I hope I have never lost it since." 30 

Seward . c ' Would you restrain private conversation, Sir ? " 
Johnson. "Sir, it is difficult to say where private conversa- 
tion begins, and where it ends. If we three should discuss 
the existence of a Supreme Being we should not be restrained. 
But if we should discuss it in the presence of ten boarding- 35 
school girls, and as many boys, the magistrate would do well 
to put us in the stocks, to finish the debate there." 



314 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

"I do not think the story of theiEneid interesting. I like 
the story of the Odyssey much better, not on account of the 
wonderful things which it contains ; for there are wonderful 
things enough in the iEneid; — the ships of the Trojans 
5 turned to sea-nymphs, — the tree at Polydorus's tomb drop- 
ping blood. The Odyssey is interesting, as a great part of 
it is domestick." 

Young Mr. Burke's conversation was such that Dr. Johnson 
said to me afterwards, "He did very well indeed; I have a 

10 mind to tell his father/' 

Boswell. " Perhaps, Sir, I should be the less happy for 
being in Parliament. I never would sell my vote, and I 
should be vexed if things went wrong." Johnson. " That's 
cant, Sir. Publick affairs vex no man." Boswell. "Have 

15 not 3^ou been vexed by that absurd vote of the House of Com- 
mons, 'That the influence of the Crown is increasing, and 
ought to be diminished?'" Johnson. "Sir, I have never 
slept an hour less, nor eat an ounce less meat. I would have 
knocked the factious dogs on the head, to be sure ; but I was 

20 not vexed." Boswell. "I declare, Sir, upon my honour, I 
did imagine I was vexed, and took a pride in it ; but it was, 
perhaps, cant; for I own I neither eat less, nor slept less." 
Johnson. "My dear friend, clear your mind of cant. You 
may talk as other people do : you may say to a man, ' Sir, I 

25 am your most humble servant.' You are not his most humble 
servant. You tell a man, 'I am sorry you had such bad 
weather the last day of your journey, and were so much wet.' 
You don't care six-pence whether he is wet or dry. You may 
talk in this manner ; it is a mode of talking in Society : but 

30 don't think foolishly." 

I talked of living in the country. Johnson. "Don't set 
up for what is called hospitality : it is a waste of time, and a 
waste of money ; you are eaten up, and not the more respected 
for your liberality. If your house belike an inn, nobody 

35 cares for you. A man who stays a week with another, makes 
him a slave for a week." Boswell. " But there are people, 
Sir, who make their houses a home to their guests, and are 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 315 

themselves quite easy." Johnson. "Then, Sir, home must 
be the same to the guests, and they need not come." 

I found him at tea, and the celebrated Miss Burney, the 
authour of "Evelina " and "Cecilia," with him. I mentioned 
"Cecilia." ° Johnson, (with an air of animated satisfac- 5 
tion) "Sir, if you talk of ' Cecilia,' talk on." 

I asked, whether a man naturally virtuous, or one who has 
overcome wicked inclinations, is the best. Johnson. "Sir, 
to you, the man who has overcome wicked inclinations, is 
not the best. He has more merit to himself : I would rather 10 
trust my money to a man who has no hands, and so a 
physical impossibility to steal, than to a man of the most 
honest principles. There is a witty satirical story of Foote. 
He had a small bust of Garrick placed upon his bureau. 
'You may be surprised (said he), that I allow him to be so 15 
near my gold ; — but you will observe, he has no hands.' " 

I mentioned one who was a very learned man. Johnson. 
"Yes, Sir, he has a great deal of learning; but it never lies 
straight. There is never one idea by the side of another : 
'tis all entangled : and then he drives it so awkwardly upon 20 
conversation ! " 

Johnson. "Sir, if a man has led a good life for seven years, 
and then is hurried by passion to do what is wrong, and is 
suddenly carried off, depend upon it he will have the reward 
of his seven years' good life : God will not take a catch of him." 25 

He embraced me, and gave me his blessing, as usual when I 
was leaving him for any length of time. I walked from his 
door to-day, with a fearful apprehension of what might happen 
before I returned. 

To Mr Allen. 30 

"It has pleased God, this morning, to deprive me of the 
powers of speech ; and as I do not know but that it may be his 
further good pleasure to deprive me soon of my senses, I re- 
quest you will on the receipt of this note, come to me, and 
act for me, as the exigencies of my case may require. 35 

"Sam. Johnson." 



316 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

I here insert a few particulars concerning Johnson from 
one of his friends. 

"He had once conceived the design of writing the Life of 
Oliver Cromwell, saying that he thought it might be highly 
5 curious to trace his extraordinary rise to the supreme power, 
from so obscure a beginning." 

"He had projected a work to shew how small a quantity of 
real fiction there is in the world ; and that the same images, 
with very little variation, have served all the authours who 

10 have ever written." 

"His thoughts in the latter part of his life were frequently 
employed on his deceased friends. He often muttered 
these, or such like sentences : l Poor man ! and then he 
died.' " 

15 Of a certain literary friend, 'He is a very pompous puzzling 
fellow, (said he) ; he lent me a letter once that somebody had 
written to him, he wanted to have the letter back, and ex- 
pressed a mighty value for it ; he would not lose it for a thou- 
sand pounds. I layed my hand upon it soon afterwards. 

20 0, then he did not know that it signified any thing. So 
you see, when the letter was lost it was worth a thou- 
sand pounds, and when it was found it was not worth a 
farthing.'" 

"The style and character of his conversation was certainly 

25 conducted in conformity with a precept of Lord Bacon. 'In 
all kinds of speech, either pleasant, grave, severe, or ordinary, 
it is convenient to speak leisurely, and rather drawlingly 
than hastily: because hasty speech confounds the memory, 
and oftentimes, besides the unseemliness, drives a man either 

30 to stammering, a non-plus, or harping on that which should 
follow; whereas a slow speech confirmeth the memory, 
addeth a conceit of wisdom to the hearers, besides a seemliness 
of speech and countenance.' " 

" ' I look upon myself to be a man very much misunderstood. 

35 I am not an uncandid, nor am I a severe man. I sometimes 
say more than I mean, in jest ; and people are apt to believe 
me serious : however, I am more candid than I w T as when I 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 317 

was younger. As I know more of mankind, I expect less of 
them, and am ready now to call a man a good man, upon easier 
terms than I was formerly/ " 

To Bennet Langton. 

"The gout ° has within these four days come upon me with 5 
a violence which I never experienced before. It made me 
helpless as an infant. — Mrs. Williams' death following 
that of Levet, has now made my house a solitude. She left 
her little substance to a charity-school. She is, I hope, 
where there is neither darkness, nor want, nor sorrow. 10 

"Sam. Johnson." 

He received a visit from the celebrated Mrs. Siddons. He 
gives this account of it in one of his letters to Mrs. Thrale : — 
"Mrs. Siddons, in her visit to me, behaved with great modesty 
and propriety, and left nothing behind her to be censured 15 
or despised. Neither praise nor money, the two powerful 
corrupters of mankind, seemed to have depraved her. I shall 
be glad to see her again. Her brother Kemble calls on me, 
and pleases me very well. Mrs. Siddons and I talked of 
plays ; and she told me her intention of exhibiting this winter 20 
the characters of Constance, Catharine, and Isabella, in 
Shakspeare." 

.When Mrs. Siddons came into the room, there happened 
to be no chair ready for her, which he observing, said with a 
smile, "Madam, you who so often occasion a want of seats to 25 
other people, will the more easily excuse the want of one 
yourself." 

Having placed himself by her, he with great good humour 
entered upon a consideration of the English drama; and, 
particularly asked her which of Shakspeare' s characters she 30 
was most pleased with. Upon her answering that she thought 
the character of Queen Catharine the most natural : — "I 
think so too, Madam, (said he) ; and whenever you perform it, 
I will once more hobble out to the theatre myself." Mrs. 



318 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Siddons promised she would do herself the honour of acting 
his favourite part for him ; but many circumstances happened 
to prevent the representation of King Henry the Eighth 
during the Doctor's life. 
5 He thus gave his opinion upon the merits of some of the 
principal performers whom he remembered. "Mrs. Porter, 
in the vehemence of rage, and Mrs. Clive, in the sprightliness 
of humour, I have never seen equalled^ What Clive did best, 
she did better than Garrick ; but could not do half so many 

10 things well ; she was a better romp than any I ever saw in 
nature. — Pritchard, in common life, was a vulgar ideot; 
she would talk of her gownd; but, when she appeared upon 
the stage, seemed to be inspired by gentility and understanding. 
— I once talked with Colley Cibber, and thought him ignorant 

15 of the principles of his art. — Garrick, Madam, was no de- 
claimer; there was not one of his own scene-shifters who 
could not have spoken To be, or not to be, better than he did ; 
yet he was the only actor I ever saw, whom I could call a 
master both in tragedy and comedy; though I liked him 

20 best in comedy. A true conception of character, and natural 
expression of it, were his distinguished excellencies. And 
after all, Madam, I thought him less to be envied on the stage 
than at the head of a table." 

To Mr. Kemble, he said, "Are you, Sir, one of those en- 

25 thusiasts who believe yourself transformed into the very charac- 
ter you represent ? " Upon Mr. Kemble's answering — that 
he had never felt so strong a persuasion himself; "To be 
sure not, Sir, (said Johnson) ; the thing is impossible. And if 
Garrick really believed himself to be that monster, Richard 

30 the Third, he deserved to be hanged every time he performed 
it." 

In a letter to one of the Miss Thrales, he writes, "A friend, 
whose name I will tell when your mamma has tried to guess it, 
sent to my physician to enquire whether this long train of 

35 illness had brought me into difficulties for want of money, 
with an invitation to send to him for what occasion required. 
I shall write this night to thank Mm, having no need to borrow." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 319 

And afterwards, in a letter to Mrs. Thrale, " Since you cannot 
guess, I will tell you, that the generous man was Gerard 
Hamilton." 

To Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

"It is inconvenient to me to come out ; I should else have 5 
waited on you with an account of a little Evening-Club which 
we are establishing in Essex-street, in the Strand, and of which 
you are desired to be one. It will be held at the Essex Head, 
now kept by an old servant of Thrale's. The company is 
numerous, and, as you will see by the list, miscellaneous. 10 
The terms are lax, and the expences light. Mr. Barry was 
adopted by Dr. Brocklesby, who joined with me in forming 
the plan. We meet thrice a week, and he who misses forfeits 
two-pence. 

"If you are willing to become a member, draw a line under 15 
your name. Return the list. We meet for the first time on 
Monday at eight. Sam. Johnson." 

To Boswell. 

"One thing I must enjoin you, which is seldom observed in 
the conduct of elections ; — I must entreat you to be scrupu- 20 
lous in the use of strong liquors. One night's drunkenness 
may defeat the labours of forty days well employed. Be 
firm, but not clamorous ; be active, but not malicious ; and 
you may form such an interest, as may not only exalt yourself, 
but dignify your family. Sam. Johnson." 25 

To the Reverend Dr. Taylor, Ashbourne, Derbyshire. 

"Dear Sir, 

"What can be the reason that I hear. nothing from you? 
I hope nothing disables you from writing. What I have seen, 
and what I have felt, gives me reason to fear every thing. Do 30 
not omit giving me the comfort of knowing, that after all my 
losses I have yet a friend left. 

"I want every comfort. My life is very solitary and very 



320 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

cheerless. Though it has pleased God wonderfully to deliver 
me from the dropsy, I am yet very weak, and have not passed 
the door since the 13th of December. I hope for some help 
from warm weather, which will surely come in time. 
5 "I could not have the consent of the physicians to go to 
church yesterday ; I therefore received the holy sacrament at 
home, in the room where I communicated with dear Mrs. 
Williams, a little before her death. ! my friend, the ap- 
proach of death is very dreadful. I am afraid to think on that 

10 which I know I cannot avoid. It is vain to look round and 
round for that help which cannot be had. Yet we hope and 
hope, and fancy that he who has lived to-day may live 
to-morrow. But let us learn to derive our hope only from 
God. 

15 " In the mean time, let us be kind to one another. I have 
no friend now living but you and Mr. Hector, that was the 
friend of my youth. Do not neglect, dear Sir, 

" Yours affectionately, 

"Sam. Johnson." 

20 "London, Easter-Monday, April 12, 1784." 

To his god-child, one of the daughters of Mr. Langton, then 
in her seventh year, he took the trouble to write in a large 
round hand, nearly resembling printed characters, that she 
might have the satisfaction of reading it herself. 

25 To Miss Jane Langton, in Rochester, Kent. 

"My dearest Miss Jenny, 

"I am sorry that your pretty letter has been so long with- 
out being answered ; but, when I am not pretty well, I do not 
always write plain enough for young ladies. I am glad, my 

30 dear, to see that you write so well, and hope that you mind your 
pen, your book, and your needle, for they are all necessary. 
Your books will give you knowledge, and make you respected ; 
and your needle will find you useful employment when you do 
not care to read. When you are a little older, I hope you will 

35 be very diligent in learning arithmetick ; and, above all, 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 321 

that through your whole life you will carefully say your 
prayers, and read your Bible. 

"I am, my dear, 

"Your most humble servant, 

"Sam. Johnson." 5 
41 May 10, 1784." 

He communicated to me, with solemn earnestness, a very 
remarkable circumstance which had happened in the course 
of his illness. He had shut himself up, and employed a day in 
particular exercises of religion, — fasting, humiliation, and 10 
prayer. On a sudden he obtained extraordinary relief, for 
which he looked up to Heaven with grateful devotion. He 
made no direct inference from this fact ; but from his manner 
of telling it, I could perceive that it appeared to him as some- 
thing more than an incident in the common course of events. 15 

When a person was mentioned, w T ho said, "I have lived 
fifty-one years in this world, without having had ten minutes 
of uneasiness;" he exclaimed, "The man who says so, lies: 
he attempts to impose on human credulity." Talking of 
George Psalmanazar, whom he reverenced for his piety, he 20 
said, "I should as soon think of contradicting a Bishop." 
One of the company provoked him greatly by doing what he 
could least of all bear, quoting something of his own writing, 
against what he then maintained. "What, Sir, do you say to 

1 The busy day, the peaceful night, 25 

Unfelt, uncounted, glided by ? ' " 

Johnson burst out in an unjustifiable retort, insinuating that 
the gentleman's remark was a sally of ebriety; "Sir, there is 
one passion I would advise you to command : when you have 
drunk out that glass, don't drink another." Here was 30 
exemplified what Goldsmith said of him : " There is no arguing 
with Johnson : for if his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down 
with the butt end of it." 

When I told him that a young and handsome Countess had 
said to me, "I should think that to be praised by Dr. Johnson 35 
would make one a fool all one's life ; " and that I answered, 



322 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

" Madam, I shall make him a fool to-day, hy repeating this 
to him; " he said, "I am too old to be made a fool; but if 
you say I am made a fool I shall not deny it. I am much 
pleased with a compliment, especially from a pretty woman." 
5 He was in fine spirits at our Essex-Head Club. "I dined 
yesterday at Mrs. Garrick's with Mrs. Carter, Miss Hannah 
More, and Miss Fanny Burney. Three such women are not 
to be found : I know not where I could find a fourth, except 
Mrs. Lennox, who is superiour to them all." Boswell. 

10 "What! had you them all to yourself, Sir?" Johnson. 
"I had them all, as much as they were had ; but it might have 
been better had there been more company there." Boswell. 
"Might not Mrs. Montagu have been a fourth?" Johnson. 
"Sir, Mrs. Montagu does not make a trade of her wit; but 

15 Mrs. Montagu is a very extraordinary woman : she has a 
constant stream of conversation, and it is always impregnated ; 
it has always meaning." Boswell. "Mr. Burke has a 
constant stream of conversation." Johnson. "Yes, Sir; 
if a man were to go by chance at the same time with Burke 

20 under a shed, to shun a shower, he would say — ' This is an 
extraordinary man/ If Burke should go into a stable to see 
his horse drest, the ostler would say — 'We have had an ex- 
traordinar}' man here/ " When Burke does not descend to 
be merry, his conversation is very superiour indeed. I 

25 have opposed Dr. Johnson's very singular and erroneous 
notion as to Mr. Burke's pleasantry. Mr. Windham now 
said low to me, that Mr. Burke was often very happy 
in his merriment. He called to us with a sudden air of 
exultation. "0! gentlemen, I must tell you a very great 

30 thing. The Empress of Russia has ordered the 'Rambler' to 
be translated into the Russian language : so I shall be read on 
the banks of the Wolga. Horace boasts that his fame would 
extend as far as the banks of the Rhone; now the Wolga 
is farther from me than the Rhone was from Horace." 

35 He talked of Mrs. Thrale with much concern, saying, "Sir, 
she has done every tiling wrong since Thrale's bridle was off 
her neck." 



323 

In one of his little manuscript diaries I find, " Afternoon 
spent cheerfully and elegantly, I hope without offence to God 
or man ; though in no holy duty, yet in the general exercise 
and cultivation of benevolence. " 

He charged Mr. Langton with what he thought want of 5 
judgement. " When I was ill, I desired he would tell me sin- 
cerely in what he thought my life was faulty. Sir, he brought 
me a sheet of paper, on which he had written down several 
texts of Scripture, recommending christian charity. ' And 
when I questioned him what occasion I had given for such an 10 
animadversion, all that he could say amounted to this, — 
that I sometimes contradicted people in conversation. Now 
what harm does it do to any man to be contradicted?" 
Boswell. "I suppose he meant the manner of doing it; 
roughly, — and harshly." Johnson. " And who is the worse 15 
for that?" Boswell. "It hurts people of weaker nerves." 
Johnson. "I know no such weak-nerved people." Mr. 
Burke said, "It is well, if when a man comes to die, he has 
nothing heavier upon his conscience than having been a little 
rough in conversation." Johnson, when the paper was 20 
presented to him, though at first pleased with the attention 
of his friend, whom he thanked in an earnest manner, soon 
exclaimed in a loud and angry tone, "What is your drift, 
Sir ? " Sir Joshua Reynolds observed, that it was a scene 
for a comedy, to see a penitent get into a violent passion 25 
and belabour his confessor. 

He had dined that day at Mr. Hoole's, and Miss Helen 
Maria Williams being expected, Mr. Hoole put into his 
hands her "Ode on the Peace:" Johnson read it over, took 
her by the hand, and repeated the finest stanza of her poem ; 30 
this was the most delicate and pleasing compliment he could 
pay. Miss Williams told me, that the only other time she was 
in Dr. Johnson's company, he asked her to sit down by him, 
and upon her enquiring how he was, he answered, "I am very 
ill indeed, Madam. I am very ill even when you are near me ; 35 
what should I be were you at a distance ? " 

He had now a great desire to go to Oxford, as his first jaunt 



324 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

after his illness; and I had promised to accompany him, 
though with some inconvenience to myself, as I wished to 
attend the musical meeting in honour of Handel, in West- 
minster-Abbey, on the following Saturda}^. 
5 The Oxford post-coach took us up in the morning at Bolt- 
court. The other two passengers were Mrs. Beresford and her 
daughter, two very agreeable ladies from America. Frank had 
been sent by his master the day before to take places for us ; 
and I found from the way-bill that Dr. Johnson had made 

10 our names be put down. Mrs. Beresford, who had read it, 
whispered me, "Is this the great Dr. Johnson? " I told her 
it was. As she soon happened to mention in a voice so low 
that Johnson did not hear it, that her husband had been a 
member of the American Congress, I cautioned her to beware 

15 of introducing that subject, as she must know how very 
violent Johnson was against the people of that country. He 
talked a great deal. Miss Beresford was so much charmed, 
that she said to me aside, ' l How he does talk ! Every sentence 
is an essay." 

20 I was surprised at his talking without reserve in the publick 
post-coach of the state of his affairs ; "I have (said he), about 
the world I think above a thousand pounds, which I intend 
shall afford Frank an annuity of seventy pounds a-year." In- 
deed his openness with people at a'first interview was remark- 

25 able. He said once to Mr, Langton, "I think I am like Squire 
Richard in 'The Journey to London,' 'I'm never strange in a 
strange place.' " He was truly social. 

At the inn where we stopped he was exceedingly dissatis- 
fied with some roast mutton which he had for dinner. The 

30 ladies wondered to see the great philosopher, whose wisdom 
and wit they had been admiring all the way, get into ill humour 
from such a cause. He scolded the waiter, saying, "It is as 
bad as bad can be : it is ill-fed, ill-killed, ill-kept, and ill- 
drest." 

35 He bore the journey very well, and seemed to feel himself 
elevated as he approached Oxford, that magnificent and vener- 
able seat of Learning, Orthodoxy, and Toryism. Frank 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 325 

came in the heavy coach, in readiness to attend him ; and we 
were received with the most polite hospitality at the house of 
his old friend Dr. Adams, Master of Pembroke College. 

I fulfilled my intention by going to London, and returned 
to Oxford, when I was happy to find myself again in the same 5 
agreeable circle at Pembroke College. 

" I wonder that women are not all Papists/' Boswell. 
f ' They are not more afraid of death than men are. ' ' Johnson. 
" Because they are less wicked." Dr. Adams. "They are more 
pious." Johnson. "No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. 10 
A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He'll 
beat you all at piety." 

" Ladies set no value on the moral character of men who pay 
their addresses to them ; the greatest profligate will be as well 
received as the man of the greatest virtue, and this by a 15 
woman who says her prayers three times a day." Our ladies 
endeavoured to defend their sex, but he roared them down ! 
"No, no, a lady will take Jonathan Wild as readily as St. 
Austin, if he has threepence more; and, what is worse, her 
parents will give her to him. Women are the slaves of order 20 
and fashion ; their virtue is of more consequence to us than 
our own, so far as concerns this world." 

Miss Adams mentioned a gentleman of licentious character, 
and said, "Suppose I had a mind to marry that gentleman, 
would my parents consent?" Johnson. "Yes, they'd con- 25 
sent, and you'd go. You'd go, though they did not consent." 
Miss Adams. "Perhaps their opposing might make me go." 
'Johnson. "0, very well; you'd take one whom you think a 
bad man, to have the pleasure of vexing your parents. You 
put me in mind of Dr. Barrowby, the physician, who was 30 
very fond of swine's flesh. One day, when he was eating it, 
he said, 'I wish I was a Jew.' — i Why so ? (said somebody), 
the Jews are not allowed to eat your favourite meat.' — • 
1 Because I should then have the gust of eating it, with the 
pleasure of sinning.'" — Johnson then proceeded in his 35 
declamation. 

Miss Adams made an observation which pleased him much ; 



326 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

he said with a good-humoured smile, "That there should 
be so much excellence united with so much depravity, is 
strange." 

Indeed, this lady's good qualities, and her constant atten- 
5 tion to Dr. Johnson, were not lost upon him. She happened 
to tell him that a little coffee-pot, in which she had made him 
coffee, was the only thing she could call her own. He turned 
to her with a complacent gallantry, "Don't say so, my dear; 
I hope you don't reckon my heart as nothing." 

10 I asked him if it was true as reported, that he had said 
lately, "I am for the King against Fox; but I am for Fox 
against Pitt." Johnson. "Yes, Sir, the King is my master ; 
but I do not know Pitt ; and Fox is my friend. Fox has 
divided the Kingdom with Caesar; so that it was a doubt 

15 whether the nation should be ruled by the sceptre of George 
the Third, or the tongue of Fox." 

" Many additions to our medical knowledge might be got 
in foreign countries. Inoculation, for instance, has saved 
more lives than war destroys: and the cures performed by 

20 the Peruvian-bark are innumerable." 

Johnson. "I know of no good prayers but those in the 
'Book of Common Prayer.' ' Dr. Adams, (in a very earnest 
manner), "I wish, Sir, you would compose some family 
prayers." Johnson. "I will not compose prayers for you, 

25 Sir, because you can do it for yourself. But I have thought 
of getting together all the books of prayers which I could, 
selecting those which should appear to me the best, putting 
out some, inserting others, adding some prayers of my own, 
and prefixing a discourse on prayer." We all now gathered 

30 about him, and two or three of us at a time joined in pressing 
him to execute this plan. He seemed to be a little displeased 
at the manner of our importunity, and in great agitation 
called out, "Do not talk thus of what is so awful. I know 
not what time God will allow me in this world. There are 

35 many things which I wish to do." Dr. Adams said, "I never 
was more serious about any thing in my life." Johnson. 
"Let me alone, let me alone; I am overpowered." And 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 327 

then he put his hands before his face, and reclined for some 
time upon the table. 

I had the resolution to ask Johnson whether he thought that 
' the roughness of his manner had been an advantage or not, 
and if he would not have done more good if he had been more 5 
gentle. Johnson. "No, Sir. Obscenity and Impiety have 
always been repressed in my company. " Boswell. "True, 
Sir ; and that is more than can be said of every Bishop." 

Johnson. "No, Sir. Abuse is not so dangerous when there 
is no vehicle of wit or delicacy, no subtle conveyance. The 10 
difference between coarse and refined abuse is as the difference 
between being bruised by a club, and wounded by a poisoned 
arrow." 

Dr. Adams suggested that God was infinitely good. John- 
son. "That he is infinitely good, as far as the perfection of his 15 
nature will allow, I certainly believe ; but it is necessary for 
good upon the whole, that individuals should be punished. 
As to an individual, therefore, he is not infinitely good ; and 
as I cannot be sure that I have fulfilled the conditions on 
which salvation is granted, I am afraid I may be one of those 20 
who shall be damned" (looking dismally). Dr. Adams. 
"What do you mean by damned ! " Johnson, (passionately 
and loudly) "Sent to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly." 
Dr. Adams. "I don't believe that doctrine." Johnson. 
"Well, Sir; but, if you admit any degree of punishment, 25 
there is an end of your argument for infinite goodness ; infinite 
goodness would inflict no punishment whatever. There is no 
infinite goodness physically considered ; morally there is." 

It was observed to Dr. Johnson, that it seemed strange 
that he, who has so often delighted his company by his lively 30 
I and brilliant conversation, should say he was miserable. 
.Johnson. "Alas! it is all outside; I may be cracking my 
; joke, and cursing the sun. Sun, how I hate thy beams ! " We 
imay apply to him a sentence in Mr. Greville's "Maxims, 
f Characters, and Reflections ; " a book which is entitled to 35 
imuch more praise than it has received: "Aristarchus is 
charming: how full of knowledge, of sense, of sentiment. 



328 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

You get him with difficulty to your supper ; and after having 
delighted every body and himself for a few hours, he is obliged 
to return home : — he is finishing his treatise, to prove that 
unhappiness is the portion of man." 
5 Miss Hannah More had expressed a wonder that the 
poet who had written " Paradise Lost," should write such 
poor Sonnets: — "Milton, Madam, was a genius that could 
cut a Colossus from a rock, but could not carve heads upon 
cherry-stones." 

10 Boswell. "Supposing the person who wrote Junius were 
asked whether he was the authour, might he deny it ? " John- 
son. "I don't know what to say to this. If you were sure 
that he wrote Junius, would you, if he denied it, think as well 
of him afterwards ? Yet it may be urged, that what a man 

15 has no right to ask, you may refuse to communicate ; and 
there is no other effectual mode of preserving a secret and an 
important secret, the discovery of which may be very hurtful 
to you, but a flat denial ; for if you are silent, or hesitate, or 
evade, it will be held equivalent to a confession. But stay, 

20 Sir, here is another case. Supposing the authour had told me 
confidentially that he had written Junius, and I were asked if 
he had, I should hold myself at liberty to deny it, as being 
under a previous promise, express or implied, to conceal it. 
Now what I ought to do for the authour, may I not do for my- 

25 self ? But I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man, 
for fear of alarming him. You have no business with conse- 
quences ; you are to tell the truth. Besides, you are not sure, 
what effect your telling him he is in danger may have. It 
may bring his distemper to a crisis, and that may cure him. 

30 Of all lying, I have the greatest abhorrence of this, because I 
believe it has been frequently practised on myself." 

"I have been to see my old friend, Sack. Parker; I find 
he has married his maid ; he has done right. She had lived 
with him many years in great confidence, and they had 

35 mingled minds ; I do not think he could have found any wife 
that would have made him so happy." 

Croft advised a young gentleman to read to the end of 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 329 

books. Johnson. "This is surely a strange advice; you 
may as well resolve that whatever men you happen to get 
acquainted with, you are to keep to them for life. These 
Voyages, pointing to the three large volumes of 'Voyages to 
the South Sea/ who will read them through? A man had 5 
better work his way before the mast, than read them through ; 
they will be eaten by rats and mice, before they are read 
through. Don't cant in defence of Savages." Boswell. 
"They have the art of navigation. " Johnson. "A dog or 
a cat can swim." Boswell. "They carve very ingeniously." 10 
Johnson. "A cat can scratch, and a child with a nail can 
scratch." I perceived this was none of the mollia tempora 
fandi; ° so desisted. 

Miss Adams. "Do you think, Sir, you could make your 
Ramblers better?" Johnson. "Certainly I could. I shall 15 
make the best of them you shall pick out, better." — Boswell. 
"But you may add to them. I will not allow of that." 
Johnson. "Nay, Sir, there are three ways of making them 
better; — putting out, — adding, — or correcting." 

A gentleman who had a son whom he imagined to have 20 
an extreme degree of timidity, resolved to send him to a 
publick school, that he might acquire confidence; "Sir, (said 
Johnson), this is a preposterous expedient for removing his 
infirmity ; such a disposition should be cultivated in the shade. 
Placing him at a publick school is forcing an owl upon day." 25 

Speaking of a gentleman whose house was much frequented 
by low company; "Rags, Sir, (said he), will always make 
their appearance where, they have a right to do it. Sir, the 
servants, instead of doing what they are bid, stand round the 
-table in idle clusters, gaping upon the guests; and seem as 30 
unfit to attend a company, as to steer a man of war." 

A dull country magistrate gave Johnson a long, tedious 
account of his having sentenced four convicts to transporta- 
tion. Johnson, in an agony of impatience to get rid of such a 
companion, exclaimed, "I heartily wish, Sir, that I were a fifth." 35 

A tragedy was read, in which there occurred this line : 

"Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free." 



330 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

The company having admired it much, "I cannot agree with 
you (said Johnson) : It might as well be said, 

Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat." 

A pertinacious gentleman, his opponent, happened to say, 
5 "I don't understand you, Sir ; " upon which Johnson observed, 
"Sir, I have found you an argument ; but I am not obliged to 
find you an understanding/' 

Mr. WaLpole thought Johnson a more amiable character 
after reading his letters to Mrs. Thrale : but never was one of 

10 the true admirers of that great man. We may suppose a 
prejudice conceived, if he ever heard Johnson's account 
to Sir George Staunton, that when he made the speeches in 
parliament for the Gentleman's Magazine, "he always took 
care to put Sir Robert Walpole in the wrong." 

15 His frequent use of the expression, No, Sir, was not always to 
intimate contradiction; for he would say so when he was 
about to enforce an affirmative proposition which had not 
been denied, last mentioned. I used to consider it as a kind 
of flag of defiance : as if he had said, "Any argument you may 

20 offer against this is not just. Xo, Sir, it is not." It was like 
Falstaff's "I deny your Major." 

Sir Joshua Reynolds having said that he took the altitude 
of a man's taste by his stories and his wit, and of his under- 
standing by the remarks which he repeated; being always 

25 sure that he must be a weak man, who quotes common things 
with an emphasis as if they were oracles ; — Johnson agreed 
with him ; and Sir Joshua having also observed that the real 
character of a man was found out by his amusements, — 
Johnson added, "Yes, Sir; no man is a hypocrite in his 

30 pleasures." 

I have mentioned Johnson's general aversion to a pun. He 
once, however, endured one of mine. When we were talking 
of a numerous company in which he had distinguished himself 
highly, I said, "Sir, you were a Cod surrounded by smelts. 

35 Is not this enough for you ? at a time too when you were not 
fishing for a compliment ? " He laughed at this with a com- 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 331 

placent approbation. Old Mr. Sheridan observed, "He 
liked your compliment so well, he was willing to take it with 
pun sauce" 

In one of Mr. Grattan's speeches in favour of the freedom of 
Ireland, this expression occurred : "We will persevere, till there 5 
is not one link of the English chain left to clank upon the 
rags of the meanest beggar in Ireland; " — "Nay, Sir, (said 
Johnson), don't you perceive that one link cannot clank ?" 

When Mr. Townshend threw out some reflection in parlia- 
ment upon the grant of a pension to a man of such political 10 
principles as Johnson, Mr. Burke, though then of the same 
party with Mr. Townshend, stood warmly forth in defence of 
his friend, to whom, he justly observed, the pension was granted 
solely on account of his eminent literary merit. Mr. Town- 
shend's attack upon Johnson was the occasion of his "hitching 15 
in a rhyme ; " for, in the original copy of Goldsmith's character 
of Mr. Burke, in his "Retaliation," another person's name 
stood in the couplet where Mr. Townshend is now introduced : 

11 Though fraught with all learning, kept straining his throat, 
To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote." 20 

Johnson was once drawn to serve in the militia, the Trained 
Bands of the City of London. It may be believed he did not 
serve in person ; but the idea, with all its circumstances, is 
certainly laughable. He provided himself with a musket, 
and with a sword and belt, which I have seen hanging in his 25 
closet. 

. Somebody talked of being imposed on in the purchase of 
tea and sugar. Johnson. "Go to a stately shop, as I always 
do. In such a shop it is not worth their while to take a petty 
advantage." 30 

An authour of most anxious and restless vanity being men- 
tioned, "Sir, (said he), there is not a young sapling upon 
Parnassus more severely blown about by every wind of criti- 
cism than that poor fellow." 

The difference, he observed, between a well-bred and an 35 
ill-bred man is this : "One immediately attracts your liking, 



332 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

the other your aversion. You love the one till you find 
reason to hate him ; you hate the other till you find reason to 
love him." 

The wife of one of his acquaintance had fraudulently made a 
5 purse for herself out of her husband's fortune. Feeling a 
proper compunction in her last moments, she confessed how 
much she had secreted ; but before she could tell where it was 
placed, she expired. Her husband said, he was more hurt 
by her want of confidence in him, than by the loss of his money. 

10 " I told him, (said Johnson), that he should console himself: 
for perhaps the money might be found, and he was sure that 
his wife was gone." 

A foppish physician once reminded Johnson of his having 
been in company with him on a former occasion, "I do not 

15 remember it, Sir." The physician still insisted; adding that 
he that day wore so fine a coat that it must have attracted 
his notice. "Sir, (said Johnson), had you been dipt in Pacto- 
lus, I should not have noticed you." 

He seemed to take a pleasure in speaking in his own style ; 

20 for when he had carelessly missed it, he would repeat the 
thought translated into it. Talking of the Comedy of "The 
Rehearsal," he said, "It has not wit enough to keep it sweet." 
This was easy ; — he therefore caught himself, and pronounced 
a more round sentence; "It has not vitality enough to pre- 

25 serve it from putrefaction." 

"Sir, your assent to a man whom you have never known to 
falsify, is a debt : but after you have known a man to falsify, 
your assent to him then is a favour." 

A little Miss on seeing a picture of Justice with the scales, 

30 had exclaimed to me, "See, there's a woman selling sweet- 
meats;" he said, "Painting, Sir, can illustrate, but cannot 
inform." 

No man was more ready to make an apology when he had 
censured unjustly, than Johnson. When a proof-sheet of 

35 one of his works was brought to him, he found fault with the 
mode in which a part of it was arranged, refused to read it, 
and in a passion desired that the compositor might be sent to 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 333 

him. The compositor was Mr. Manning, who had composed 
about one half of his " Dictionary/' and who composed a 
part of the first edition of this work concerning him. By 
producing the manuscript, he at once satisfied Dr. Johnson 
that he was not to blame. Upon which Johnson candidly 5 
and earnestly said to him, "Mr. Compositor, I ask your 
pardon; Mr. Compositor, I ask your pardon, again and 
again.' ' 

Coming home late one night, he found a poor woman lying 
in the street, so much exhausted that she could not walk; 10 
he took her upon his back, and carried her to his house, where 
he discovered that she was one of those wretched females 
who had fallen into the lowest state of vice, poverty, and 
disease. He had her taken care of with all tenderness, till 
she was restored to health, and endeavoured to put her into a 15 
virtuous way of living. 

He once in his life was known to have uttered a bull: Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, when they were riding together in Devon- 
shire, complained that he had a very bad horse, for that 
even when going down hill he moved slowly step by step. 20 
"Ay (said Johnson), and when he goes up hill, he stands 
still." 

He had a great aversion to gesticulating in company. He 
called once to a gentleman who offended him in that point, 
"Don't attitudinise," And when another gentleman thought 25 
he was giving additional force to what he uttered, by expressive 
movements of his hands, Johnson fairly seized them, and held 
them down. 

A gentleman said that a conge d'elire has not, perhaps, 
the force of a command, but may be considered only as 30 
a strong recommendation; — "Sir, (replied Johnson), it is 
such a recommendation, as if I should throw you out of 
a two pair of stairs window, and recommend to you to fall 
soft." < 

Previous to the trial of Baretti, a consultation of his 35 
friends was held. Among others present were Mr. Burke 
and Dr. Johnson, who differed concerning some part of 



334 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



the defence. Mr. Steevens observed, that the question had 
been agitated with rather too much warmth. "It may be so, 
Sir, (replied the Doctor), for Burke and I should have been 
of one opinion, if we had had no audience." 
5. Having been excited by the praises bestowed on the cele- 
brated Torre's fire-works at Marybone-Gardens, he desired 
Mr. Steevens to accompany him thither. ' The evening had 
proved showery ; and soon after the few people present were 
assembled, publick notice was given, that the conductors to 

10 the wheels, suns, stars, &c. were so thoroughly water-soaked, 
that it was impossible the exhibition should be made. "This 
is a mere excuse, (says the Doctor), to save their crackers for 
a more profitable company. Let us both hold up our sticks, 
and threaten to break those coloured lamps that surround the 

15 Orchestra, and we shall soon have our wishes gratified. The 
core of the fire-works cannot be injured; let the different 
pieces be touched in their respective centers ; and they will do 
their offices as well as ever." — Some young men who over- 
heard him, immediately began the violence he had recom- 

20 mended ; but to little purpose were they lighted, for most of 
them completely failed. 

Goldsmith's last Comedy was to be represented during 
some court-mourning ; and Mr. Steevens appointed to call on 
Dr. Johnson, and carry him to the tavern where he was to 

25 dine with others of the Poet's friends. The Doctor was ready 
dressed, but in coloured cloaths ; yet being told that he would 
find every one else in black, hastened to change his attire, 
all the while repeating his gratitude for the information 
that had saved him from an appearance so improper in the 

20 front row of a front box. "I would not (added he), for 
ten pounds, have seemed so retrograde to any general 
observance." 

Happening one day to mention Mr. Flexman, the Doctor 
replied, "Let me hear no more of him, Sir. That is the fellow 

35 who made the Index to my Ramblers, and set down the name 
of Milton thus : Milton, Mr. John." 
The anxiety of his friends made them plan for him a retreat 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 335 

from the severity of a British winter, to the mild climate of 
Italy. The person to whom I thought I should apply to 
negotiate this business was the Lord Chancellor, because I 
knew that he highly valued Johnson, and that Johnson highly 
valued his Lordship. This application was utterly unknown 5 
to him. 

Beattie observed, as something remarkable which had 
happened to him, that he had chanced to see both No. 1, and 
No. 1000, of the hackney-coaches, the first and the last; 
"Why, Sir, (said Johnson), there is an equal chance for one's io 
seeing those two numbers as any other two." 

I dined with him at General Paoli's, where, he says in one 
of his letters to Mrs. Thrale, "I love to dine." He seemed 
to me to eat so much, that I was afraid he might be hurt by 
it; and I whispered to the General my fear. "Alas ! (said 15 
the General), see how very ill he looks; he can live but a 
very short time. Would you refuse any slight gratifications 
to a man under sentence of death?" 

He entered upon a curious discussion of the difference 
between intuition and sagacity ; one being immediate in its 20 
effect, the other requiring a circuitous process ; one he observed 
was the eye of the mind, the other the nose of the mind. A 
young gentleman maintained that no man ever thinks of 
the nose of the mind. He persisted much too long. Johnson 
called to him in a loud tone, "What is it you are contending for 25 
if you be contending?" — Mr. * * * * *, it does not become 
you to talk so to me. Besides, ridicule is not your talent; 
you have there neither intuition nor sagacity." — The gentle- 
man protested that he had intended no improper freedom. 
Johnson. "Give me your hand, Sir. You were too tedious, 30 
and I was too short." Mr. ***** "gi rj I am honoured 
by your attention in any way." Johnson. "Come, Sir, 
let's have no more of it. We offended one another by 
our contention ; ' let us not offend the company by our 
compliments." 35 

On Monday, June 28, I had the honour to receive from the 
Lord Chancellor the following letter: 



336 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 



To James Boswell. 

"I am much obliged to you for the suggestion; and I will 
adopt and press it as far as I can. The best argument, I am 
sure, and I hope it is not likely to fail, is Dr. Johnson's merit. 
5 — But it will be necessary, if I should be so unfortunate as 
to miss seeing you, to converse with Sir Joshua on the sum 
it will be proper to ask, — in short, upon the means of setting 
him out. It would be a reflection on us all, if such a man 
should perish for want of the means to take care of his health. 
10 Your's, &c. 

Thurlow." 

Boswell. "I am very anxious about you, Sir, and partic- 
ularly that you should go to Italy for the winter, which I 
believe is your own wish." Johnson. "It is, Sir." Bos- 

15 well. "You have no objections, I presume, but the money 
it would require." Johnson. "Why, no, Sir." — Upon 
which I gave him a particular account of what had been done, 
and read to him the Lord Chancellor's letter. — He listened 
with much attention ; then warmly said, "This is taking pro- 

20 digious pains about a man." — "0, Sir, (said I, with most 
sincere affection), your friends would do everything for you." 
He paused, — grew more and more agitated, — till tears 
started into his eyes, and he exclaimed with fervent emotion, 
" God bless you all." He rose suddenly and quitted the room, 

25 quite melted in tenderness. Soon after he returned I left him, 
having first engaged him to dine at Sir Joshua Reynolds's 
next day. — I never was again under that roof which I had so 
long reverenced. 

On Wednesday, the friendly confidential dinner with Sir 

30 Joshua Reynolds took place, no other company being present. 
This was the last time that I should enjoy in this world, 
the conversation of a friend whom I so much respected, and 
from whom I derived so much instruction and entertain- 
ment. 

35 He said that he would rather have his pension doubled 
than a grant of a thousand pounds. 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 337 

Sir Joshua and I endeavoured to flatter his imagination with 
agreeable prospects of happiness in Italy. "Nay, (said he), I 
must not expect much of that; when a man goes to Italy 
merely to feel how he breathes the air, he can enjoy very 
little," 5 

I accompanied him in Sir Joshua Reynolds's coach, to the 
entry of Bolt-court. He asked me whether I would not go 
with him to his house; I declined it, from an apprehension 
that my spirits would sink. We bade adieu to each other 
affectionately in the carriage. When he had got down upon 10 
the foot-pavement, he called out, "Fare you well;" and 
without looking back, sprung away with a kind of pathetick 
briskness, if I may use that expression, which seemed to 
indicate a struggle to conceal uneasiness, and impressed me 
with a foreboding of our long, long separation. 15 

Soon after this time Dr. Johnson had the mortification of 
being informed by Mrs. Thrale, that she was going to marry 
Signor Piozzi, an Italian musick-master. He endeavoured 
to prevent it; but in vain. •''Poor Thrale, I thought that 
either her virtue or her vice would have restrained her from 20 
such a marriage. She has now become a subject for her 
enemies to exult over ; and for her friends, if she has any left, 
to forget or pity." 

As a sincere friend of the great man whose Life I am writing, 
I think it necessary to guard my readers against the mistaken 25 
notion of Dr. Johnson's character, which this lady's "Anec- 
dotes" of him suggest ; for from the very nature and form of 
her book, "It lends deception lighter wings to fly." 

"Let it be remembered, (says an eminent critic), that she 
has comprised in a small volume all that she could recollect 30 
of Dr. Johnson in twenty years, during which period, doubtless, 
some severe things were said by him : and they who read the 
book in two hours, naturally enough suppose that his whole 
conversation was of this complexion. But the fact is, I have 
been often in his company, and never once heard him say a 35 
severe thing ; and many others can attest the same. When 
he did say a severe thing, it was generally extorted by igno- 



338 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

ranee pretending to knowledge, or by extreme vanity or 
affectation. Two instances of inaccuracy, (adds he), are 
peculiarly worthy of notice : 

"It is said, ' That he once bade a very celebrated lady consider 

5 what her flattery was worth, before she choked him with it.' 

"Now let the genuine anecdote be contrasted with this. — 

'Spare me, I beseech you, dear Madam/ was his reply. She 

still laid it on. c Dearest lady, consider with yourself what 

your flattery is worth, before you bestow it so freely. 5 

10 "How different does this story appear, when accompanied 
with all these circumstances which really belong to it, but 
which Mrs. Tin-ale either did not know, or has suppressed. 

"She says, 'One gentleman contradicted Johnson two or three 
times, petulantly enough ; the master of the house began to expect 

15 disagreeable consequences ; to avoid which he said, — Our friend 
here has no meaning now in all this, except just to relate at club 
to-morrow how lie teazeel Johnson at dinner to-day ; this is all to 
do himself honour. — No, upon my word, {replied the other), I 
see no honour in it, whatever you may do. — Well, Sir, (re- 

20 turned Mr. Johnson, sternly), if you do not see the honour, I 
am sure I feel the disgrace.' 

"This is all sophisticated. The gentleman muttered in a 
low voice, 'I see no honour in it; ; and Dr. Johnson said 
nothing : so all the rest, (though bien trouvee) is mere garnish." 

25 This lady herself says, " To recollect, however, and to repeat 
the sayings of Dr. Johnson is almost all that can be done by the 
writers of his Life; as his life, at least since my acquaintance 
with him, consisted in little else than talking, when he was not 
employed in some serious piece of work." 

30 She says, u He would not stir a finger for the assistance of 
those to whom he was willing enough to give advice." 

She herself contradicts the assertion of his being obstinately 
defective in the petites morales, in the little endearing chari- 
ties of social life, for she says, "Dr. Johnson was liberal enough 

35 in granting literary assistance to others, I think) and innumer- 
able are the prefaces, Sermons, Lectures, and Dedications which 
he used to make for people who begged of him." 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 339 

She relates, that Johnson had been grossly rude to Mr. 
Cholmondeley. Her book was published in 1785, she had 
then in her possession a letter from Dr. Johnson, dated in 
1777, which begins thus : " Cholmondeley 's story shocks me, 5 
if it be true, which I can hardly think, for I am utterly uncon- 
scious of it : I am very sorry, and very much ashamed." 

In his social intercourse she thus describes him: "Ever 
musing tjjl he was called out to converse, and conversing till the 
fatigue of his friends, or the promptitude of his own temper to 10 
take offence, consigned him back again to silent meditation" 
Yet, in the same book, she tells us, "He was, however, seldom 
inclined to be silent, when any moral or literary question was 
started. On such occasions, like the Sage in 'Rasselas,' he 
spoke, and attention watched his lips ; he reasoned, and convic- 15 
tion closed his periods" 

The evident tendency of the following anecdote is to rep- 
resent Dr. Johnson as extremely deficient in affection. 
" I lamented the loss of a cousin, — ' Prithee, my dear, (said he), 
have done with canting ; how would the world be the worse for 
it, I may ask, if all your relations were at once spitted like larks, 20 
and roasted for Presto's supper ? ' — Presto was the dog that lay 
under the table while we talked." — The circumstances fairly 
appear, as told by Mr. Baretti, who was present : 

"Mrs. Thrale, while supping very heartily upon larks, 
abruptly exclaimed, '0, my dear Johnson, the last letters 25 
from abroad have brought us an account that our poor cousin's 
head was taken off by a cannon-ball.' Johnson, who was 
shocked both at the fact, and her light unfeeling manner of 
mentioning it, replied, ' Madam, it would give you very little 
concern if all your relations were spitted like those larks, and 30 
drest for Presto's supper.'" ° 

Johnson wrote to Sir Joshua Reynolds. "I am very de- 
sirous to avoid the appearance of asking money upon false 
pretences. I desire you to represent to his Lordship, what, as 
soon as it is suggested, he will perceive to be reasonable, — 35 
That, if I grow much worse, I shall be afraid to leave my phy- 
sicians, to suffer the inconveniences of travel, and pine in the . 



340 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

solitude of a foreign country ; — That, if I grow much better, 
of which indeed there is now little appearance, I shall not wish 
to leave my friends and my domestick comforts; for I do 
not travel for pleasure or curiosity ; yet if I should recover, 
5 curiosity would revive. — In my present state, I am desirous 
to make a struggle for a little longer life, and hope to obtain 
some help from a softer climate. Do for me what you can/' 
To Dr. Brocklesbt, he writes, "I am not a lover of com- 
plaints, or complainers, and yet I have since we parted, ut- 

10 tered nothing till now but terrour and sorrow. Write to me, 
dear Sir." 

"On one day I had three letters about the air balloon: ° 
yours was far the best. In mere amusement, I am afraid it 
must end, for I do not find that its course can be directed so as 

15 that it should serve any purposes of communication : and it 
can give no new intelligence of the state of air at different 
heights, till they have ascended above the height of moun- 
tains, which they seem never likely to do. 

" The first experiment, however, was bold, and deserved ap- 

20plause and reward. But since it has been performed, and 
its event is known, I had rather now find a medicine that can 
•ease an asthma." 

I am now grown somewhat easier in my body, but my mind 
is sometimes depressed. — About the Club I am in no great 

25 pain. The forfeitures go on, and the house, I hear, is im- 
proved for our future meetings. I hope we shall meet often, 
and sit long." 

To Dr. Burnet. "The weather, you know, has not been 
balmy ; I am now reduced to think, and am at last content to 

30 talk of the weather. Pride must have a fall. — I have lost 
dear Mr. Allen ; and wherever I turn, the dead or the dying 
meet my notice, and force my attention upon misery and 
mortality. 

" My sweet Fanny, who, by her artifice of inserting her letter 

35 in yours, had given me a precept of frugality which I was not 
at liberty to neglect ; and I know not who were in town under 
whose cover I could send my letter. I rejoice to hear that 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 341 

you are so well, and have a delight particularly sympathetick 
in the recovery of Mrs. Burney." 

To Mr. Langton. " A friend, at once cheerful and serious, 
is a great acquisition. Let us not neglect one another for 
the little time which providence allows us to hope." 5 

To Sir Joshua Reynolds. " Write, do write to me now 
and then; we are now old acquaintance, and perhaps few 
people have lived so much and so long together, wath less 
cause of complaint on either side. The retrospection of this 
is very pleasant, and I hope we shall never think on each 10 
other with less kindness." 

" I do not despair of supporting an English winter. — At 
Chatsworth, I met young Mr. Burke, who led me very com- 
modiously into conversation with the Duke and Duchess. 
We had a very good morning. The dinner was publick." ° 15 

" I have three letters this day, all about the balloon ; I could 
have been content with one. Do not write about the bal- 
loon, whatever else you may think proper to say." 

He went for the last time to Lichfield, his native city, 
which by a sudden apostrophe, under the word Lich, he in- 20 
troduces into his English Dictionary: — " Salve, magna 
parens I" 

He mentioned that he could not in general accuse himself 
of having been an undutiful son. "Once, indeed, (said he), 
I was disobedient ; I refused to attend my father to Uttoxeter- 25 
market. Pride was the source of that refusal, and the re- 
membrance of it was painful. A few years ago I desired to 
atone for this fault. I went to Uttoxeter in very bad weather, 
and stood for a considerable time bareheaded in the rain, on 
the spot where my father's stall used to stand. In contrition 30 
I stood, and I hope the penance was expiatory." ° 

"I told him (says Miss Seward) of a wonderful learned pig, 
which did all that we have observed exhibited by dogs and 
horses. The subject amused him. 'Then, (said he), the 
pigs are a race unjustly calumniated. Pig has, it. seems, not 35 
been wanting to man, but man to pig. We do not allow time 
for his education, we kill him at a year old. How old is your 



342 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON; LL.D. 

pig?' I told him, three years old. 'Then, (said he), the pig 
has no cause to complain ; he would have been killed the first 
year if he had not been educated, and protracted existence is a 
good recompence for very considerable degrees of torture.' " 
5 As Johnson had now very faint hopes of recovery, and as 
Mrs. Thrale was no longer devoted to him, it might have been 
supposed that he would naturally have chosen to remain in the 
comfortable house of his beloved wife's daughter, and end his 
life where he began it. But there was in him an animated 

10 and lofty spirit, and however complicated diseases might 
depress ordinary mortals, all who saw him beheld and ack- 
nowledged the invictum animum Catonis. He said to one 
friend, "Sir, I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do 
not make a new acquaintance; " and to another, when talk- 

15 ing of his illness, "I will be conquered ; I will not capitulate." 
And such was his love of London, that he languished when 
absent from it. These feelings, joined, probably, to some 
flattering hopes of aid from the eminent physicians and sur- 
geons in London, who kindly and generously attended him 

20 without accepting fees, made him resolve to return. 

From Lichfield he came to Birmingham, where he passed a 
few days with his worthy old schoolfellow, Mr. Hector. 

Johnson then proceeded to Oxford, where he was again 
kindly received by Dr. Adams, who was pleased to give me 

25 the following account. "His last visit was, I believe, to my 
house, which he left, after a stay of four or five days. We 
had much serious talk together, for which I ought to be the 
better as long as I live. You will remember some discourse 
which we had in the summer upon the subject of prayer, and 

30 the difficulty of this sort of composition. He reminded me 
of this. He added, that he was now in a right frame of mind, 
and as he could not possibly employ his time better, he 
would in earnest set about it. 

"Prayers and Meditations" have, in pursuance of his 

35 earnest requisition, in the hopes of doing good, been pub- 
lished, with a judicious well- writ ten Preface, by the reverend 
Mr. Strahan, to whom he delivered them. 






THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 343 

He arrived in London on the 16th of November, and next 
day sent to Dr. Burney the following note. 

"Mr. Johnson, who came home last night, sends his re- 
spects to dear Dr. Burney, and all the dear Burneys, little 
and great." 5 

I had the consolation of being informed that he spoke of me 
on his death-bed with affection. 

During his sleepless nights he amused himself by translating 
into Latin verse, from the Greek, many of the epigrams in 
the Anthologia. 10 

The ludicrous imitators of Johnson's style are innumerable. 
Their general method is to accumulate hard words, without 
considering, that, although he was fond of introducing them 
occasionally, there is not a single sentence in all his writings 
where they are crowded together, as in the first verse of the 15 
following imaginary Ode by him to Mrs. Thrale, which ap- 
peared in the news-papers : 

11 Cervisial coctor's viduate dame, 
O pins' t thou this gigantick frame, 

Procumbing at thy shrine ; 20 

Shall, catenated by*thy charms, 
A captive in thy ambient arms, 

Perennially be thine ? ' ' 

Johnson's wishing to unite himself with this rich widow, 
was much talked of, but I believe without foundation. The 25 
report, however, gave occasion to a poem, not without char- 
acteristical merit, entitled, Ode to Mrs. Thrale, by Samuel 
Johnson, LL.D. on their supposed approaching Nuptials: 
printed for Mr. Faulder, in Bond Street. — I shall quote as 
a specimen, the first three stanzas. 30 

" If e'er my fingers touch'd the lyre, 
In satire fierce, in pleasure gay ; 
Shall not my Thralia's smiles inspire ? 
Shall Sam refuse the sportive lay ? 



344 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

" My dearest Lady ! view your slave, 
Behold him as your very Scrub ; 
Eager to write as author grave, 
Or govern well the brewing-tub. 

5 " To rich felicity thus raised, 

My bosom glows with amorous fire, 
Porter no longer shall be praised, 
Tis I myself am Thr ale's Entire." 

To Mr. Green, Apothecary, at Lichfield. 

10 "I have enclosed the Epitaph for my Father, Mother, and 
Brother, to be all engraved on the large size, and laid in the 
middle aisle in St. Michael' s-church, which I request the 
clergyman and churchwardens to permit. 

"The first care must be to find the exact place of interment, 

15 that the stone may protect the bodies. Then let the stone 
be deep, massy, and hard ; and do not let the difference of ten 
pounds, or more, defeat our purpose. Sam. Johnson*" 

To Mrs. Lucy Porter. 

"I am very ill, and desire your prayers. I have sent Mr. 
20 Green the Epitaph, and a power to call on you for ten pounds. 
"I laid this summer a stone over Tetty, in the chapel of 
Bromley, in Kent. The inscription is in Latin. 

Sam. Johnson." 

An ingenious member of the Eumelian Club informs me, 

25 that upon one occasion, when he said to him that he saw 

health returning to his cheek, Johnson seized him by the hand 

and exclaimed, "Sir, you are one of the kindest friends I ever 

had." 

About eight or ten days before his death, when Dr. Brock- 

30 lesby paid him his morning visit, he seemed very low and 

desponding, and said, "I have been as a dying man all night," 

He then emphatically broke out in the words of Shakspeare, 

" Can'st thou not minister to a mind diseas'd ? " 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 345 

To which Dr. Brocklesby readily answer'd : 

- therein the patient 



Must minister to himself." 

Having asked Dr. Brocklesby what would be a proper 
annuity to a favourite servant, and being answered that in 5 
the case of a nobleman, fifty pounds a-year was considered 
as an adequate reward for many years' faithful service ; — 
"Then, (said Johnson), shall I be nobilissimus, for I mean to 
leave Frank seventy pounds a-year." 

The consideration of numerous papers of which he was 10 
possessed, seems to have struck Johnson's mind, with a sud- 
den anxiety, as they were in great confusion. He, in a precip- 
itate manner, burnt large masses of them, with little regard, 
as I apprehend, to discrimination. 

Two very valuable articles, I am sure we have lost, two 15 
quarto volumes, containing a most particular account of his 
own life, from his earliest recollection. I owned to him, that 
having accidentally seen them, I had read a great deal in them ; 
and apologizing for the liberty I had taken, asked him if I 
could help it. He placidly answered, "Why, Sir, I do not 20 
think you could have helped it." I said that I had, for 
once in my life, felt half an inclination to commit theft. It 
had come into my mind to carry off those two volumes, and 
never see him more. Upon my enquiring how this would 
have affected him, "Sir, (said he), I believe I should have 25 
gone mad." 

Nobody was more attentive to him than Mr. Langton, to 
whom he tenderly said, Te teneam moriens deficiente manu. 
Mr. Langton informs me, that, "one day he found Mr. Burke 
and four or five more friends sitting with Johnson. Mr. 30 
Burke said to him, ' I am afraid, Sir, such a number of us may 
be oppressive to you.' — 'No, Sir, (said Johnson), it is not so ; 
and I must be in a wretched state, indeed, when your company 
would not be. a delight to me.' Mr. Burke in a tremulous 
voice, expressive of being very tenderly affected, replied, 'My 35 
dear Sir, you have always been too good to me.' Immediately 



346 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

afterwards he went away. This was the last circumstance in 
the acquaintance of these two eminent men." 

"He said, that the Parliamentary Debates were the 
only part of his writings which then gave him any com- 
5 punction : but that at the time he wrote them, he had 
no conception he was imposing upon the world, though 
they were frequently written from very slender materials, 
and often from none at all, — the mere coinage of his own 
niagination." 

10 A man whom he had never seen before was employed one 
night to sit up with him. Being asked next morning how he 
liked his attendant, his answer was, "Not at all, Sir: the 
fellow's an idiot ; he is as awkward as a turn-spit when first 
put into the wheel, and as sleepy as a dormouse." 

15 Mr. Windham having placed a pillow conveniently to sup- 
port him, he thanked him for his kindness, and said, "That 
will do, — all that a pillow can do." 

He repeated with great spirit a poem, consisting of several 
stanzas, in four lines, in alternate rhyme, which he said he had 

20 composed some years before, on occasion of a rich, extrava- 
gant young gentleman's coming of age : 

Long-expected one-and-twenty, 

Ling'ring year, at length is flown; 
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, 
25 Great ****** * ? are now your own. 

Loosen'd from the Minor's tether, 

Free to mortgage or to sell, 
Wild as wind, and light as feather, 

Bid the sons of thrift farewell. 

30 Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, 

All the names that banish care ; 
Lavish of your grandsire's guineas, 
Show the spirit of an heir. 

Should the guardian friend or mother, 
35 Tell the woes of wilful waste : 

Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother, — 
You can hang or drown at last. 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 347 

As he opened a note which his servant brought to him, he 
said, "An odd thought strikes me: — we shall receive no 
letters in the grave." 

He requested three things of Sir Joshua Reynolds : — To 
forgive him thirty pounds which he had borrowed of him ; — 5 
to read the Bible ; — and never to use his pencil on a Sunday. 
Sir Joshua readily acquiesced. 

"I will take no more physick, not even my opiates : for I 
have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded. 
I will take any thing but inebriating sustenance." 10 

Having, as has been already mentioned, made his will on 
the 8th and 9th of December, and settled all his worldly affairs, 
he languished till Monday, the 13th. 

" The day he died, a Miss Morris, daughter to a particular 
friend of his, called, and said to Francis, that she begged to 15 
be permitted to see the Doctor, that she might earnestly re- 
quest him to give her his blessing. Francis went into his 
room, followed by the young lady, and delivered the message. 
The Doctor turned himself in the bed, and said, 'God bless 
you, my dear !' These were the last words he spoke." 20 

A few days before his death, he had asked Sir John Hawkins, 
as one of his executors, where he should be buried ; and on 
being answered, " Doubtless, in Westminster- Abbey," seemed 
to feel a satisfaction. Accordingly, upon Monday, Decem- 
ber 20, his remains were deposited in that noble and renowned 25 
edifice ; ° and over his grave was placed a large blue flag- 
stone, with this inscription : 

"Samuel Johnson, ll.d. 
Obiit xiii die Decembris, 

Anno Domini 30 

M.DCC.LXXXIV. 

Mtatis suce lxxv." 

His funeral was attended by a respectable number of his 
friends, particularly such of the members of The Literary 
Club as were then in town. Mr. Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, 35 
Mr. Windham, Mr. Langton, Sir Charles Bunbury, and Mr. 



348 THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 

Coleman, bore his pall. His school-fellow, Dr. Taylor, per- 
formed the mournful office of reading the burial service. 
Gerard Hamilton said : 

"He has made a chasm, which not only nothing can fill up, 

5 but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. — Johnson is 
dead. — Let us go to the next best : — there is nobody ; 
no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson. " 

When one of his little pragmatical foes was invidiously 
snarling at his fame, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's table, the Rev- 

10 erend Dr. Parr exclaimed, with his usual bold animation, 
"Ay, now that the old Hon is dead, every ass thinks he may 
kick at him." 

A monument for him, in Westminster- Abbey, was resolved 
upon ; but the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, having come to 

15 a resolution of admitting monuments there, upon a liberal 
and magnificent plan, that Cathedral was afterwards fixed 
on, as the place in which a cenotaph should be erected to his 
memory : and in the cathedral of his native city of Lichfield, 
a smaller one is to be erected. 

20 His figure was large and well formed, and his countenance 
of the cast of an ancient statue; yet his appearance was 
rendered strange and somewhat uncouth by convulsive 
cramps, by the scars of that distemper which it was once im- 
agined the royal touch could cure, and by a slovenly mode of 

25 dress. He had the use only of one eye ; yet so much does 
mind govern, and even supply the deficiency of organs, that 
his visual perceptions, as far as they extended, were uncom- 
monly quick and accurate. So morbid was his temperament, 
that he never knew the natural joy of a free and vigorous use 

30 of his limbs : when he walked, it was like the struggling gait 
of one in fetters ; when he rode, he had no command or direc- 
tion of his horse, but was carried as if in a balloon. That 
with his constitution and habits of life he should have lived 
seventy-five years, is a proof that an inherent vivida vis is a 

35 powerful preservative of the human frame. 

Exulting in his intellectual strength and dexterity, he could, 
when he pleased, be the greatest sophist that ever contended 



THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. 349 

in the lists of declamation; and, from a spirit of contradic- 
tion, and a delight in shewing his powers, he would often main- 
tain the wrong side with equal warmth and ingenuity; so 
that, when there was an audience, his real opinions could 
seldom be gathered from his talk. His piety was constant, 5 
and the ruling principle of all his conduct. 

Such was Samuel Johnson, a man whose talents, acquire- 
ments, and virtues were so extraordinary, that the more his 
character is considered, the more he will be regarded by the 
present age, and by posterity, with admiration and reverence. 10 



NOTES 

1 : 7. the opinion which he has given. Idler, No. 84. 

3 : 16. all resemblance of the original. Rambler, No. 60. 

3 : 32. every market-day. Boswell quotes from a letter 
dated 1716 and published in the Gentleman's Magazine, 
October, 1791 : " Johnson, the Lichfield librarian . . . propa- 
gates learning all over this diocese. All the clergy are his 
pupils." So, too, were the attorneys. 

3 : 34. distinguished understanding. Yet Johnson, in 
that account of his early years, — which Boswell never saw, 
— wrote that his parents were not altogether congenial. 
The mother was of better lineage ; the father disdained talk- 
ing with her of his books. " Neither of them ever tried to 
calculate the profits of trade or the expenses of living." 

4 : 23. kennel. Gutter. 

5 : 14. touched by Queen Anne. See Macbeth IV. iii, 
and " Sir Roger de Coverley at Westminster Abbey." Queen 
Anne "touched" in one day more than two hundred 
persons. Johnson describes himself as "a poor diseased 
infant, almost blind." Boswell suggested that the touch of 
an exiled Stuart might have been more efficacious : that his 
mother should have taken him to Rome. With characteristic 
tenderness Johnson writes of a silver cup and spoon which 
his mother bought for him in London. " The cup was one 
of the last pieces of plate which dear Tetty sold in our distress. 
I have now the spoon. She bought at the time two tea- 
spoons, and, till my manhood, she had no more." 

351 



352 NOTES 

6 : 15. a little varied. See King Henry VI, Part II. Act 

IV. scene X. " Sword, I will hallow thee for this thy deed." 

7 : 34. stark insensibility. Boswell says that Johnson, 
having once discovered a fault in himself, was " apt to over- 
charge" it. 

8:3. horrible hypochondria. " He strove to overcome it 
by forcible exertions " such as walking to Birmingham and 
back. He wrote in Latin an account of his illness for Dr. 
Swinfen, his physician and godfather. 

8:8. "The Whole Duty of Man." Probably by Dr. 
Allestree : termed by Cowper as "a repository of self -righteous- 
ness and pharisaical lumber." Addison (Spectator 568) 
speaks of " a book against the Squire and the whole parish." 
It is frequently quoted in Johnson's Dictionary. 

10 : 35. of the name of Aston. Mrs. Thrale once asked 
Dr. Johnson what had been the happiest time of his life. He 
replied that it was when he spent a whole evening in the com- 
pany of Molly Aston. " Molly," said he, " was a beauty 
and a scholar and a wit and a Whig, and she talked all in 
praise of liberty ; and so I made this epigram upon her, — 
she was the loveliest creature I ever saw. ' Liber ut esse 
velim suasisti, pulchra Maria ; Ut maneam liber, pulchra 
Maria, vale.' " Mrs. Thrale attempted a translation, 
which Johnson said was " pretty good for a lady. The 
ladies never liked Molly Aston." You have persuaded me, 
my lovely Mary, that I ought to be free. That I may remain 
free, I bid you, lovely Mary, adieu. Molly married Captain 
Brodie of the Navy ; Margaret married Gilbert Walmsley ; 
Catherine married Henry Hervey, Johnson's friend ; and 
another sister married the Rev. Mr. Gastrel who cut down 
Shakespeare's mulberry tree. 

11 : 21. afterwards married. It was Mrs. Porter's money, 
no doubt, that leased and equipped the " academy." Her 



NOTES 353 

sons, then struggling to make their own way in the world, 
could hardly have approved of the marriage. The sea-cap- 
tain left his sister, Lucy, ten thousand pounds, with which 
she built herself a house in Lichfield. One of the best notes 
on Johnson's married life is as follows: — 

"I asked him, if he ever disputed with his wife. ' Perpetually, ' 
said he. 'My wife had a particular reverence for cleanliness, and 
desired the praise of neatness in her dress and furniture as many 
ladies do, till they become troublesome to their best friends, slaves 
to their own besoms, and only sigh for the hour of sweeping their 
husbands out of the house as dirt and useless lumber. "A clean 
floor is so comfortable," she w T ould say sometimes by way of twitt- 
ing ; till at last I told her that I thought we had had talk enough about 
the floor, we would now have a touch at the ceiling !' I asked him 
if he ever huffed his wife about his dinner. 'So often,' replied he, 
'that at last she called to me and said, "Nay, hold, Mr. Johnson, 
and do not make a farce of thanking God for a dinner which in a 
few minutes you will protest not eatable.'"" — Mrs. Piozzi's Anec- 
dotes. 

13 : 17. guide to novices. The school continued for less 
than two years. Boswell inserts at this point Johnson's 
" Scheme for the Classes of a Grammar School." 

13 : 32. for the stage. Johnson once amused the dinner 
party by alluding to the time " when I came with two-pence 
half-penny in my pocket, and thou, Davy, with three half- 
pence in thine." 

14 : 17. Henry Hervey. Pope had satirized Henry's 
elder brother as Lord Fanny in his Imitation of Horace, 
1st Satire, 2d Book, and as Sporus in the Epistle to Dr. 
Arbuthnot. 

15 : 19. in the Gentleman's Magazine. Published by Cave 

at St. John's Gate. Signing himself S. Smith, Johnson 

had in 1734 proposed to furnish for the magazine "poems, 

inscriptions, short literary dissertations in Latin or English, 

2a 



354 NOTES 

or critical remarks," suggesting that its pages would thus 
" be better recommended to the public than by low jests, 
awkward buffoonery, or the dull scurrilities of either party." 
However, when he did write he " took care to see that the 
Whig dogs did not get the best of it." He attacked Wal- 
pole, whose policy was to range, as the adherents of the 
Pretender all his own enemies, something which seemed not 
impossible, as Tory and Jacobite, after a long opposition 
to the Court, had become almost identified. Johnson did not 
avow the authorship of the Debates until long afterwards. 
He told Boswell " that as soon as he found that the speeches 
were thought genuine, he determined to write no more of 
them ; for he would not be accessary to the propagation 
of falsehood." While Johnson wrote, the circulation of 
the magazine increased from ten thousand to fifteen 
thousand. 

17 : 12. degree from Dublin. Swift was then Dean of 
St. Patrick's. Gower wrote that Johnson was not afraid of 
the strictest examination and would make the journey to 
Dublin " choosing rather to die upon the road than be starved 
to death in translating for booksellers." Trinity in 1765 
made Johnson Doctor of Laws. 

17 : 21. a powerful advocate. In " The False Alarm," and 
" Taxation no Tyranny." 

17 : 25. had not a dinner. He had signed himself : 
" Yours, impransus, Johnson." 

18:23. paper-sparing Pope. "The manuscript of his 
translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, preserved in the British 
Museum, is written mostly on the backs of letters." Note 
by Mr. Mowbrary Morris, Globe Ed. The following are 
Swift's lines in his " Advice to Grub Street Writers " : — 



NOTES 355 

" Get all your verses printed fair, 

Then let them well be dried : 
And Curll must have a special care 

To leave the margin wide. 
Lend them to paper-sparing Pope, 

And when he sits to write, 
No letter with an envelope 

Could give him more delight." 

19 : 5. from a habit. So Johnson told a little girl who 
asked him about his strange gestures. Dr. Hill, IV. 211. 

19:32. Phillips. Charles. He was admired "for abso- 
lute contempt of riches and his inimitable performances 
ipon the violin." — -From his epitaph. 

23 : 17. The authorities. Johnson read and marked writers 
whose usage he considered best and quite orthodox. He 
said that the words had to be collected " from the boundless 
chaos of living speech." He quoted Reynolds, Garrick, 
Gray, Richardson, and himself ; but chiefly dead authors. 
He probably added the word " veracious " to the language. 
The Dictionary was published in two volumes in 1755", and 
sold for £4 10s. bound. 

23:29. Dr. Richard Bathurst. " - Bathurst, the best of 
friends, to whom I stand indebted for all the little virtue 
and knowledge that I have," quoted by Dr. Hill from 
Harewood's History of Lichfield. Dr. Bathurst died in 
Havana. Johnson wrote: "Dear Bathurst was a man to 
my heart's content : he hated a fool and he hated a rogue 
and he hated a Whig : he was a good hater." — Mrs. Piozzi's 
Anecdotes. 

24 : 5. The Vanity of Human Wishes. Sir Walter Scott 
said that this poem and Johnson's " London " gave him 
more pleasure than any others. 

24 : 36. behind the scenes. The idea of strangling on the 
stage was Garrick's. Johnson cleared about £300. 



356 NOTES 

26 : 2. and I took it. Garrick had proposed as a name : 
" The Sallad." Dr. Hill notes that all but five of the 208 
numbers are Johnson's own. He shows the probability of 
Goldsmith's having taken from Rambler, No. 34, the incident 
of Mrs. Hardcastle's being driven in terror round her own 
estate. Dr. Burney said facetiously that Johnson wrote the 
papers to explain the words in his dictionary. The authorship 
was a secret save to a very few. Cave wxater-— -Mr. Johnson 
is the great Rambler, being, as you observe, the only man 
who can furnish two such papers in a week besides his other 
great business." 

27 : 10. its pointed satire. " If Garrick was aimed at," 
says Dr. Hill, "it is surprising that the severity of the satire 
did not bring to an end, not only all friendship, but even any 
acquaintance between the two men." 

27 : 12. Addison and Johnson. Johnson said that Addi- 
son's style was " pure without scrupulosity." Dr. Gurney 
considered the difference to be this : that Johnson's style 
would present fewer difficulties to the translator. 

31 : 27. Bishop. In his Dictionary Johnson gives : "A 
cant word for a mixture of wine, oranges, and sugar." 

34:1. talk of the town. Johnson said to Garrick: 
" I have sailed a long and painful journey round the 
world of the English language, and does he now send out 
two cock-boats to tow me into harbour? " — Murphy's 
Johnson. 

34 : 24. respectable Hottentot. This satire was more 
probably aimed at Sir George Lyttleton, whom Smollett 
ridiculed in Roderick Random. 

36:12. ireirbvdanev. " Alas ! But why say alas f We 
have suffered what all mortals have to suffer." This is 
from a fragment of Bellerophon, a long-lost tragedy by Eu- 
ripides. 



NOTES 357 

38 : 16. his own opinions. Some of the definitions are : 
" Network, anything reticulated or decussated at equal 
distances, with interstices between the intersections. Oats, 
a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in 
Scotland supports the people. Pension, in England is gen- 
erally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for 
treason to his country. Whig, the name of a faction. Tory, 
one who adheres to the ancient constitution of the State and 
the apostolical hierarchy of the Church of England. Excise, 
a hateful tax levied upon commodities and adjudged, not by 
the common judges of property but by wretches hired by 
those to whom Excise is paid." 

40 : 15. defence of tea. Dr. Hill quotes from Cumber- 
land's Memoirs: " I remember that when Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds at my house reminded Dr. Johnson that he had drank 
eleven cups, he replied : ' Sir, I did not count your glasses 
of wine ; why should you count my cups of tea ? ' And then 
laughingly in perfect good humour, he added, — ' Sir, I 
should have released the lady from any further trouble if it 
had not been for your remark ; but you have reminded me 
that I want one of the dozen, and I must request Mrs. Cum- 
berland to round up the number.' " 

40 : 26. Soame Jenyns. That he was " possessed of lively 
talents " is proved by his " Epitaph on Dr. Johnson." 

"Here lies poor Johnson. Reader, have a care, 
Tread lightly, lest you rouse a sleeping bear ; 
Religious, moral, generous, and humane 
He was — but self-sufficient, rude, and vain ; 
Ill-bred and over-bearing in dispute, 
A scholar and a Christian — yet a brute. 
Would you know all his wisdom and his folly, 
His actions, sayings, mirth, and melancholy, 
Boswell and Thrale, retailers of his wit, 
Will tell you how he wrote, and talk'd, and cough'd and spit." 



358 NOTES 

11: 15. Doddy. Robert Dodsley, author of Cleone. 

41 : 25. twenty guineas a head . . . Miss. Sir Joshua re 
ceived more as his reputation increased : for " The Three Ladie 
Waldegrave," one thousand guineas. He laughed at hi 
sister's attempts at portrait painting. Johnson, although h 
considered it " immodest for a woman to be staring in people' 
faces," sat for her. He said she was <the only one of hi 
acquaintance whose mind would bear the microscopic tes 
for purity. After reading the speech on Conciliation, sh 
said she could not tell which side Burke had taken. 

41 : 27. Mr. Charles Burney. The following extrac 
from a letter to Mrs. Thrale is typical of Johnson's frequen 
expressions of regard for the Burneys : "I love all of tha 
breed whom I can be said to know, and one or two whom 
hardly know I love upon credit, and love them because the 
love each other." These talented people knew the best i 
society and letters. Frances, as Second Keeper of the Robe 
to the Queen, saw much of court life. Her journal, coverin 
a period of seventy-two years and known as the Diary c 
Mme. D'Arblay, is a most interesting commentary upo 
men and manners of the time. 

43:29. Rasselas. The name was made up from tern- 
used in Lobo's Voyage to Abyssinia. " Ras " = chief. 

44: 11. climbing over the wall. Once, at Langton'; 
Johnson emptied all his pockets and insisted on rolling dow 
a long steep hill. 

44:22. great Cham of literature. The "Cham" c 
"Chan" was sovereign of Tartary ; cf. "Genghis Ehan, 
the great Khan of the thirteenth century, Chaucer's " Can 
bynskan." 

44 : 22. Servant. Francis Barber was born in Jamaica, an 
was brought to England in 1750 by Colonel Bathiirst, fath* 
of Johnson's very intimate friend, Dr. Bathurst . He was sen 



NOTES 359 

* 
for some time, to the Reverend Mr. Jackson's school, at Bar- 
ton, in Yorkshire. The Colonel by his will left him his free- 
dom, and Dr. Bathurst was willing that he should enter into 
Johnson's service, in which he continued from 1752 till John- 
son's death, with the exception of two intervals ; in one cf 
which, upon some difference with his master, he went and 
served an apothecary in Cheapside, but still visited Dr. John- 
son occasionally ; in another, he took a fancy to go to sea. 
Part of the time, indeed, he was, by the kindness of his master, 
I at a school in Northamptonshire (Boswell) . To him was given 
Mrs. Johnson's wedding ring, see p. 28, — and the account 
of Johnson's early life. 

47 : 26. against the dockers. Johnson was once inclined 
to express some indignation upon seeing a man throw snails 
over the wall into a neighbor's garden, until he was informed 
that the neighbor was a Whig. 

48 : 5. A memorable year. 1763. 

51: 21. Gray a first-rate poet. How can Johnson's insen- 
sibility to fclie g^ us of Gray be accounted for? He said 
there was some m^ it in, " Yet who to dumb forgetfulness," 
and a 1? anzas following. " Gray walks tip-toe in his 
Odes.' 

52:31. 1 iposo. Churchill's best lines are: — 

30 insolent and loud, 

ain ol of a scribbling crowd : 

vVbtos: 1 very name inspires an awe, 

3 very word is sense and law." 

53: I. unoeceivec the world. In Hare's Walks in Lon- 
don there is an ac unt of the ghost. See Andrew Lang's 
" The Cock Lane Ghost." Boswell gives Johnson's account, 
which is as follows : — 

"On the night of the 1st of February, many gentlemen eminent 
for their rank and character, were, by the invitation of the Reverend 



360 NOTES 

Mr. Aldrich, of Clerkenwell, assembled at his house, for the examina- 
tion of the noises supposed to be made by a departed spirit, for the 
detection of some enormous crime. 

"About ten at night the gentlemen met in the chamber in which 
the girl, supposed to be disturbed by a spirit, had, with proper cau- 
tion, been put to bed by several ladies. They sat rather more than 
an hour, and hearing nothing, went down stairs, when they inter- 
rogated the father of the girl, who denied, in the strongest terms, 
any knowledge or belief of fraud. 

"The supposed spirit had before publickly promised, by an affirm- 
ative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen into the 
vault under the church of St. John, Clerkenwell, where the body is 
deposited, and give a token of her presence there, by a knock upon 
TiePcofnn ; it was therefore determined to make this trial of the 
existence or veracity of the supposed spirit. 

"While they were enquiring and deliberating, they were sum- 
moned into the girl's chamber by some ladies who were near her 
bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. When the gentle- 
men entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse 
upon her back, and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From 
that time, though the spirit was very solemnly required to manifest 
its existence by appearance, by impression on the hand or body of 
any present, by scratches, knocks, or any otl igen y vidence 

of any preternatural power was exhibited. 

"The Spirit was then very seriously adve h$ person 

to whom the promise was made of striking the i about 

to visit the vault, and that the performance o f thi is then 

claimed. The company at one o'clock went ii ■■■ . nd the 

gentleman to whom the promise was made, v 3r into 

the vault. The spirit was solemnly required t omise, 

but nothing more than silence ensued; the j to be 

accused by the spirit, then went down with t >ut no 

effect was perceived. Upon their return the 3 girl, 

but could draw no confesr.on from her. Betwt : a,ad three she 

desired and was permitted to go home with her father. 

"It is, therefore, the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child 
has some art of making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that 
there is no agency of any higher cause." 

53 : 33. un etourdi. A blunderer, whom Horace Wslpole 
called " an inspired idiot " and of whom Garrick wrote : — 



NOTES 361 

"for shortness called Noll, 
Who wrote like an angel ancl talked like poor Poll." 

After the puppet show mentioned, he went home, says Bos- 
well, with Burke to supper and broke his shins by attempting 
to exhibit to the company how much better he could jump 
over a stick than the puppets could. He once splashed into 
a fountain at Versailles in trying to prove that it was not 
within jumping distance. For " the beautiful young ladies," 
the Miss Hornecks, read The Jessamy Bride. Fanny Bur- 
ney and Mrs. Thrale were one day admiring The Vicar of 
Wakefield, when Dr. Johnson remarked that it "had noth-" 
ing of real life in it." 

56 : 23. for an Historian. Not the modern view. John- 
son's contemporaries were Hume, Gibbon, and Robertson. 
Burke said that Hume took little pains to look into historical 
sources. 

58 : 32. case of my death. Boswell left his papers to 
Malone, Temple, and Forbes. The executors, through indif- 
ference or lack of energy, allowed the papers to go so long 
unclaimed that many were no doubt destroyed. Dr. Hill 
says, " The indolence of Malone and Temple and the brutish 
ignorance of the Boswells have much to answer for." 

61 : 18. one Mrs. Macaulay. She wrote a history of 
England from the accession of James I to the Revolution. 
Johnson frequently " stripped " her of her republican cant, 
although he said that " to make her ridiculous was as unneces- 
sary as to blacken the chimney " 

62 : 8. Sherry. Thomas, father of Richard Brinsley Sheri- 
dan, the dramatist. 

63 : 16. a deep impression. This is one of the three prin- 
ciples that have made for the success of the Salvation Army. 

63 : 26. Formosam etc. 

" Thou teachest every grove to whisper, 'Loveliest Amaryllis.' " 



362 NOTES 

Compare this for melody with Keats' : — 

' ' Charmed magic casements opening on the foam 
Of perilous seas in faery lands forlorn." 

65 : 5. Presbyterian Kirk. Baretti said Johnson would 
have made " a good Spanish Inquisitor : he was tooth and 
nail against toleration." He would not, while in Scotland, 
be present at a Presbyterian service, though in France he 
attended the Catholic. 

66 : 30. Synod of Cooks. From Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes 
must be quoted : "A leg of pork boiled till it dropped from 
the bone, a veal pie with plums and sugar, or the outside cut 
of a salt buttock of beef were his favourite dainties." John- 
son, as Boswell frequently remarks, was not temperate. He 
wrote to Mrs. Thrale (Piozzi) : " Would you have me cross 
my genius when it leads me sometimes to voracity and some- 
times to abstinence? " 

67 : 6. one of the most luminous minds. Burke's. His 
" Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and 
Beautiful " and " Vindication of Natural Society " appeared 
in 1756. 

68:12. The Literary Club. " Esto perpetua " was the 
motto and toast. Johnson's plan was that there should be 
nine members any two of whom should be able to entertain 
each other were there no more in attendance. Monday was the 
original meeting night, changed later to Friday. Sir John 
Hawkins says that the members gathered about nine, that 
supper was ready about ten and over about eleven. " This 
famous club though moving from place to place in the closing 
years of the last century still preserved its identity ; it took 
a new lease of life in the first quarter of the nineteenth century 
and it survived in a very quiet old age, holding its 
fortnightly meetings — rather sparingly attended it is true — 



NOTES 363 

at Willis's Rooms, St. James's Street. Among recent members 
may be named Gladstone, Sir Frederick Leighton, Lord Salis- 
bury, the Duke of Argyle, Tennyson, and Matthew Arnold." 
D.G.Mitchell. Mr. Asquithisnowamember. SeeR.Nevill, 
London Clubs. 

68 : 26. Sir John Hawkins. Johnson's executor and^author 
of the first Life of Johnson. Boswell said that by his " Life " 
he " hoped to make Sir John Hawkins feel some compunc- 
tion for his illiberal treatment of Dr. Johnson." He had 
been a member of the earlier club at the King's Head, Ivy 
Lane, yet Johnson called him " an unclubable man " ; he 
churlishly declined to pay his share of the supper bill, because 
he " took no supper at home." Boswell has already mentioned 
him, p. 23, contemptuously, as an attorney." 

70 : 34. the family of Mr. Thrale. Boswell wrote to 
Temple, " Mr. Thrale is a worthy sensible man, and has the 
wits much about his house ; but he is not one himself." Some 
ten years after their first meeting Johnson wrote to Mrs. 
Thrale: " I can not but think on your kindness and my 
master's. Life has, upon the whole, fallen short of my early 
expectations ; but the acquisition of such a friendship' at an 
age when new friendships are seldom acquired is something 
better ,than the general course of things gives a man to 
expect. I think on it with great delight. I am not apt to 
be delighted." Concerning Mrs. Thrale Dr. Hill quotes 
from the " Memoirs of Dr. Burney " : Miss Burney described 
her as " extremely lively and chatty, showing none of the 
supercilious or pedantic airs so scofnngly attributed to women 
of learning or celebrity ; on the contrary, she is full of sport, 
remarkably gay, and excessively agreeable. I liked her in 
everything except her entrance into the room, which was 
rather florid and flourishing as who should say, — ' It is I 
— no less a person than Mrs. Thrale ! ' However, all that 



364 NOTES 

ostentation wore out in the course of the visit, which lasted 
the whole morning, and you could not have helped liking 
her, she is so very entertaining — though not simple enough, 
I believe, for quite winning your heart." She was evidently 
capricious, heedless, inaccurate, and indiscreet : her foibles 
exposed her to the sneer of Baretti, — " faultless female! " 
Hogarth portrays her features in " The Lady's Last Stake." 

74 : 18. Rousseau and Wilkes. Naturally the shams 
rather than the merits of Rousseauism engaged Dr. Johnson's 
attention. " Sending him to work in the plantations " was 
not without humor. Wilkes was in exile at this time. 

76 : 26. came next to the library. All the notes go back 
to Lord Northcote's. He observed that the king was prob- 
ably the more frightened of the two. One more meeting took 
place. For Bos well's eight-page pamphlet, 1790, " A Con- 
versation between His Most Sacred Majesty, George III and 
Samuel Johnson, LL.D.," the publishers asked half a guinea. 

79 : 16. Fielding and Richardson. Johnson's preference for 
Richardson is another of his literary aberrations ; yet, save 
for her broken nose, he thought Amelia the most attractive 
of heroines. See p. 98. See Hill, II. 199. 

82 : 10. at the Jubilee. The Stratford festivals were insti- 
tuted by Garrick. Boswell attended in the costume of a 
Corsican patriot, with " Corsica Boswell " on a ribbon round 
his hat. 

82 : 21. Your History. In Corsica, Boswell had met 
General Paoli, and at the general's luxurious London house 
he later almost made his home. Walpole called Boswell 
" that quintessence of busybodies." Dr. Hill quotes from 
Walpole' s letter to Gray: "Pray read the new account of 
Corsica. The author is a strange being and has a rage of 
knowing everybody that ever was talked of. He forced 
himself upon me at Paris in spite of my teeth and my doors." 



NOTES 365 

Gray replied : " The pamphlet proves what I have always 
maintained, — that any fool may write a most valuable 
book by chance if he will only tell us what he heard and saw 
with veracity." Admiration for the history led General 
Oglethorpe to seek Boswell out. " Sir, my name is Ogle- 
thorpe. I wish to be acquainted with you." 

85 : 17. so absurd a colour. On the same bill, which will be 
found in Prior's Life of Goldsmith, was a " blue velvet suit " and 
" garter blue silk breeches," and a " Queen's blue dress suit." 

86 : 6. nobody else honour. This was the Essay on Shake- 
speare. No doubt Mrs. Montagu's reputation and her 
prominence were far in advance of her real ability. Lord 
Karnes said she knew no more than a college lad of six- 
teen. Johnson, however, agreed with Mrs. Thrale as to her 
being " the most learned woman in the world. She diffuses 
more knowledge in her conversation than any woman I 
know, or indeed, almost any man." See Hill, IV. 75-76. 
Dr. Johnson urged Miss Burney to attack her. " You are 
a rising wit and she is at the top, and when I was begin- 
ning the world and was nothing and nobody, the joy of my 
life was to fire at all the established wits and then every- 
body loved to halloo me on." — Mme. D'Arblay's Diary. 

86 : 33. Baretti. Although a man of excitable tempera- 
ment, he seems not to have been responsible for the brawl in 
which he was attacked. Burke, Garrick, Reynolds, and 
Fitzherbert went his bail. He was the Italian tutor of the 
Thrales, — for a long time almost an intimate in the house- 
hold ; but he left it suddenly, indignant over a fancied neg- 
lect. He had no liking for Boswell ; thought him erratic. 

87 : 26. of a peevish temper. Dr. Hill quotes several 
passages showing that she was not only refined but gracious. 

92 : 4. Two young women. Rossetti's painting, " Dr. 
Johnson and the Methodist Ladies at the Mitre," is an impres- 



366 NOTES 

sive piece of realism. It is reproduced in Miss Cary's " The 
Rossettis." For Maxwell, Rossetti substituted Boswell. 

95 : 4. mysterious champion, Junius. The mystery is 
still unsolved. Proofs seem strongest for Sir Philip Francis, 
although it is known that Sackville on his death-bed made 
some confession of a very grave nature to Lord Mansfield. 
Johnson thought Burke wrote the " Letters." Walpole 
said three men were suspected : Wilkes, W. G. Hamilton, and 
Burke. 

95 : 20. try my hand now. But North's political sagacity, 
such as it was, kept Johnson out. Croker's note is to the 
effect that North feared that " Johnson, like the elephant in 
battle, was quite as likely to trample down his friends as his 
foes." 

95 : 22. my portrait. Reynolds painted four ; this was the 
second. When Sir Joshua sketched him holding a pen close 
to his eyes, Johnson cried, "He may paint himself as deaf, 
but I'll not be made a blinking Sam! " "Ugly dog," he 
exclaimed, looking over the shoulder of Miss Burney, who held 
a portrait of him. Dr. Hill gives a complete list of portraits, 
IV. 486. 

96 : 7. a motto for your Goat. Thus translated by a 
friend : — 

"In fame scarce second to the nurse of Jove, * 

This Goat, who twice the world had traversed round, 
Deserving both her master's care and love, 

Ease and perpetual pasture now has found." — Boswell. 

100 : 8. Sappho in Ovid. She warned Phaon that it would 
be impossible to find a mate just like himself. 

"If to no charms thou wilt thy heart resign, 
But such as merit, such as equal thine, 
By none, alas ! by none thou canst be mov'd, 
Phaon alone by Phaon must be lov'd." — Pope. 



NOTES 367 

101 : 25. valuable editions. Mme. D'Arblay writes : 
" Garrick gave a thundering stamp on some mark on the 
carpet that struck his eye — not with passion or displeasure, 
but merely as if from singularity and took off Dr. Johnson's 
voice in a short dialogue with himself that had passed the 
preceding week. ' David, will you lend me your Petrarca? ' 
' Y-e-s, sir.' ' David, you sigh.' ' Sir, you shall have it, 
certainly.' Garrick sent the book stupendously bound that 
very evening. 'But scarcely had he taken it in his hands, 
when, as Boswell tells me, he poured forth a Greek ejacula- 
tion and a couplet or two from Horace, and then, in one of 
those fits of enthusiasm, which always seem to require that 
he should spread his arms aloft, he suddenly pounces my 
poor Petrarca over his head upon the floor, and then stand- 
ing, for several minutes lost in abstraction, he forgot probably 
that he had ever seen it.' " 

103 : 2. your masquerade. At Edinburgh. Boswell had 
gone as a dumb conjurer. 

103 : 14. a new comedy. " She Stoops to Conquer." 
It already had the title : " The Mistakes of a Night." Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, to whom it was dedicated, suggested "The 
Belle's Stratagem." It was performed at Covent Garden, 
March, 1773, with brilliant success, although manager 
and actors had expected failure. 

105 : 21. in good order. Johnson confessed to Mrs. Thrale 
that "anarchy prevailed in his own kitchen; that Des- 
moulins had charge ; that there was no jack ; that small 
joints were suspended to roast on a string and large ones 
sent to the baker's." 

110 : 33. puzzled by an argument. This was not quite 
just; for, says Lockhart, " The allusion is not to The Tale of 
a Tub, but to The History of John Bull IV, where, however, 
Jack does not hang himself for any such reason ; but the mis- 



368 NOTES 

representation turned the laugh against Boswell, which was 
all Johnson cared for." 

111:22. miscebitur istis. "With these, perchance, our 
names shall be enrolled." It is said that these were heads of 
traitors executed during the second Jacobite Rebellion. 

Ill : 30. have the precedence. Johnson, through Sir 
Joshua Reynolds's influence, was the first to be honored by 
a monument in St. Paul's. 

116 : 36. awful, melancholy, and venerable Johnson. 
Dr. Hill says that Boswell surely makes too little of John- 
son's talent for admirable fooling — so richly attested by 
Murphy, Hawkins, Miss Burney, and Mrs. Piozzi. He said 
to Fanny Burney that every one had sometime in his life 
a desire to be a wag ; Mrs. Piozzi says that he measured a 
man's understanding by his mirth. 

117 : 29. have not been disappointed. 

11 In this he shewed a very acute penetration. My wire paid him 
the most assiduous and respectful attention, while he was our guest ; 
so that I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure. 
The truth is, that his irregular hours and uncouth "habits, such as 
turning the candles with their heads downwards, when they did not 
burn bright enough, and letting the wax drop upon the carpet, 
could not but be disagreeable to a lady. Besides, she had not that 
high admiration of him which was felt by most of those who knew 
him ; and what was very natural to a female mind, she thought he 
had too much influence over her husband. She once, in a little 
warmth, made, with more point than justice, this remark upon that 
subject : 'I have seen many a bear led by a man; but I never be- 
fore saw a man led by a bear/ " — Boswell. 

118 : 1. Maria Scotorum Regina. " Mary Queen of Scots, 
fallen on evil days, perforce resigns to her rebellious subjects 
her own royal rights." Notice how Johnson in his reply 
changes the style : "Mary Queen of Scots, born 15 — ; sent by 
her own people into exile 15 — ; and by her to whom she looked 



NOTES 369 

for protection handed over to death 15 — ." He afterwards 
sent to Boswell the following inscription and translation: — 

11 Maria Scotorum Regina, 

Hominum seditiosorum 
Contumeliis lassata, 
Minis territa clamoribus victa, 
Libello, per quern 
Regno ceait, 
Lacrimans trepidansque 
Nomen apponit." 

"Mary, Queen of Scots, 

Harrassed, terrified, and overpowered 

By the insults, menaces, 

And clamours 

Of her rebellious subjects, 

Sets her hand, 
With tears and confusion, 
To a resignation of the kingdom." 

118 : 20. following tetrastick. 

"Here Goldsmith lies. O ye, who deeds of old, 
Or Nature's works, or sacred song regard, 
With reverence tread ; for he in all excelled : 
Historian, and Philosopher, and Bard." 

— Choker's Translation. 

119 : 5. about the Americans. This year, 1775, is the 
date of "Taxation, No Tyranny" (published anonymously), 
and of Burke's speech on Conciliation. Dr. Hill ascribes 
Johnson's hatred of the Americans to the fact of their hold- 
ing slaves. He quotes Johnson: " The fear that the Ameri- 
can colonies will break off their dependence upon England 
I have always thought chimerical and vain. They must be 
dependent, and, if they forsake us or be forsaken by us, fall 
into the hands of France." Dr. Hill quotes Hume, 1775. 
" I wish they would advise him (the king) to punish those 
insolent rascals in London and Middlesex who daily insult 
2b 



370 NOTES 

him and the whole legislature, before he thinks of America. 
Ask him how he can expect that form of government will 
maintain an authority at three thousand miles distance when 
it can not make itself respected or even be treated with com- 
5 mon decency at home." 

119 : 10. to tell lies. Johnson said, too, that " the High- 
lander, by a kind of intellectual retrogradation, knows less 
as he learns more. They are not much accustomed to be 
interrogated by others and seem never to have thought upon 
interrogating themselves ; so that, if they do not know what 
they tell to be true; they likewise do not distinctly perceive 
it to be false." Quoted by Dr. Hill. 

119 : 12. Mr. James Macpherson. Hume said Macpherson 
had " not arguments, but testimonies." Gosse says : " The 
Ossian problem has not proved so easy of solution as the 
Rowley problem." The original manuscript of Johnson's 
letter was sold for £o0. It is not in the British Museum. 

122:29. want a Chancellor. This was a thrust at Lord 
Clarendon. 

123 : 3. the Reverend Mr. Temple. In his Introduction 
to the Globe Edition of the " Life," Mr. Mowbray Morris 
says : — 

"The Rev. William Temple, whose name often occurs in the 
biography, had been in Boswell's closest confidence since they had 
studied together at Glasgow University. He survived his friend only 
one year, dying in 1796, when all his papers passed into the hands of 
his son-in-law, a Mr. Powlett. Powlett soon afterwards retired to 
. France, and died there, and the papers, so far as the family could tell, 
disappeared with him. Between forty and fifty years ago a clergy- 
man, purchasing some articles in a shop at Boulogne, noticed that 
the paper in which they were wrapped was the fragment of an Eng- 
lish letter. A date and some names were detected ; the fragment 
was found to be part of a large bundle of paper lately purchased 
from a French hawker. How it came into his hands could never be 
ascertained ; the Fates had been gracious enough, and would lift 



NOTES- 371 

the veil no further. The bundle was at once secured, and in 18o7 
the correspondence was published by Mr. Bentley. The curiosities 
of literary history can show few happier chances than those which 
have so marvellously rescued from oblivion these two interesting 
contributions to the great Johnsonian cycle." 

The " two " are BoswelTs letters to Temple and Dr. Thomas 
Campbell's Diary : see p. 127, note. 

125 : 29. to tell. In a letter to Miss Boothby, Johnson 
recommended for indigestion powdered orange peel in hot 
port wine. 

126 : 24. Bouts rimes. At the fetes of Lady Miller, a 
woman of fashion and " patroness of art and letters," the* 
competitors deposited their verses in a classic urn. The 
Duchess of Northumberland wrote " On a Buttered Muffin." 

127 : 10. Dr. Thomas Campbell. An Irish clergyman, 
who, on his visits to London, met most of the people worth 
knowing. He kept a diary, which in all likelihood was in- 
trusted to one of his nephews, who held a political office in 
Sidney, New South Wales. Here the diary, some seventy- , 
five years after it was written, was found in an office of the 
Supreme Court behind a press long unmoved. Macaulay's 
interest in its discovery led to its publication in England in 
1859. 

130 : 7. ludicrous imitation of his style. Young's is 
exquisite. It purports to be a criticism of Gray done by 
Johnson : " Gray should have seen that it but ill befitted the 
Bird of Wisdom to complain to the Moon of an intrusion 
which the Moon could no more help than herself ?* Boswell 
gives near the end of the " Life " serious imitations by Dr. 
Robertson, Gibbon, Miss Burney, and Mr. Wares. 

132 : 9. Gaudium, Luctus. Every feast-day and every 
fast-day. Such a " Gaudy " was the fifth of November, 
when Oxford juniors marched round and round the fire in 



372 NOTES 

■ * 

the college halls. When Johnson visited Oxford in 1776, he 
was invited to a Gandy at Christ Church, but could not 
attend because of an engagement to dine at University Col- 
lege. 

132 : 27. mansions of Bedlam. One of Hogarth's " sub- 
jects." 

Bedlam was then one of the sights of London, like the Abbey and 
the Tower, to which the public were admitted on payment of a small 
fee, and allowed even to talk to the maniacs. — Croker. 

134 : 23. Versailles. The student should consult a guide- 
book for information as to the places Johnson visited. Miss 
was Mrs. Thrale's daughter ; Mrs. Fermor, Abbess was a 
niece of Arabella Fermor, the Belinda of " The Rape of the 
Lock " ; Sans Terre conducted Louis XVI to his execution. 

136 : 27. 24L. Livre. Modern franc, value about 20 
cents. 

137: 26. Queen mount in the forest. The King's aunts 
thought it improper that the young queen should ride, and 
gave their consent at last only on the condition that she should 
not mount in the palace yard. 

142 : 1. characterised Voltaire. " A man of keenest 
mind, whose acquaintance with literature was slight." 

143 : 13. a new sense. According to Hawkins Johnson 
said that music hindered the flow of his thoughts. When 
some one praising a performer said the piece was difficult, 
Johnson exclaimed, " I would it had been impossible! " 

146:6. Johnsoniana. Shortened sometimes to "Ana." 
The Bon-Mots are said to be both coarse and dull. 

149 : 27. Shenstone's lines. " We happened," says Bos- 
well, " to lie this night at the inn at Henley where Shenstone 
wrote these lines." Hawkins's note is, " I have heard him 
assert that a tavern chair was the throne of human felicity. 



NOTES 373 

"As soon (said he) as I enter the door of a tavern, I experience 
an oblivion of care, and a freedom from solicitude : when I am seated, 
I find the master courteous, and the servants obsequious to my call; 
anxious to know and ready to supply my wants : wine there exhila- 
rates. my spirits, and prompts me to free conversation and an inter- 
change of discourse with those whom I most love : I dogmatise and 
am contradicted, and in this conflict of opinion and sentiments I 
find delight." 

153 : 24. pronounced woonse. In parts of New England a 
similar pronunciation of does is sometimes heard. 

155 : 2. Miss Anna Seward. " The Swan of Lichfield." 
Her verse has been much ridiculed, but it contains some lines 
of distinction. Leslie Stephen describes her as "a typical 
specimen of provincial precieuse." 

158 : 5. of procuring respect. What is the theme of 
Sartor Resartus ? 

161:23. money-scrivener. One of the London companies 
whose duties were later performed by attorneys. Boswell 
says this Mr. Ellis was the last in the profession. 

164 : 1. the Reviews. The Critical Review, founded and 
edited by Smollett, was pro-Stuart. The Monthly was 
Whig and Nonconformist. 

164 : 33. Abel Drugger. In Ben Jonson's Alchemist. 

165 : 13. A journey to Italy. Hawkins says that the 
Italians looked forward eagerly to the visit of Johnson. . 

166 : 10. Sixteen-string Jack. A gentleman highwayman, 
hanged at last. His knee ribbons had sixteen ends. 

171 : 8. Mr. Gibbon. It is impossible to resist noting 
here Cobman's description of him, "His mouth, mellifluous 
as Plato's, was a round hole in the center of his visage." Bos- 
well hated Gibbon, said that Gibbon " poisoned the club " 
for him. He meant to include Gibbon in " infidel wasps and 
venomous insects." 

171:18. asses of great charge. The Variorum edition 
has, of course, Johnson's notes on these two passages. 



374 NOTES 

172 : 13. the pastoral office. This advice was given in 
response to Boswell's request. Boswell's client, a minister, 
had publicly censured two members of his congregation, who 
retaliated by a suit at law. Boswell defended the liberty of 
the pulpit, a subject on which Johnson had strong prejudices. 

178 : 36. acquaintance with Mrs. Rudd. This was prob- 
ably because of her fascinating tongue. She was tried for 
forgery and would have been hanged — as were her accom- 
plices — had she not saved herself by clever pleading. 

180 : 8. Round Robin. The following signatures appear 
upon the margin : Jos. Warton, Edm. Burke, Tho. Franklin, 
Art. Chamier, G. Colman, Wm. Varkell, J. Reynolds, W. 
Forbes, T. Barnard, R. B. Sheridan, P. Metcalfe, E. Gibbon. 

181 : 21. Vita ordinanda. I must lead an orderly and well 
regulated life. I must read my Bible. I must give my mind 
to the study of theology. I must serve (God) with a cheerful 
heart. 

181 : 28. Miss Veronica's Scotch. Veronica was the name 
of Boswell's daughter. " -ston " is the Scotch equivalent for 
' ' -son. ' ' Boswell replied that he had taught her to say ' '-son . ' ' 
This selection and those immediately following are from five 
letters to Boswell, 1777. 

181 : 32. augment our club. Johnson, Boswell says, did 
not care to consort intimately with those who differed with 
him on politics and religion. 

182:2. Timeo Danaos. This "classical quotation" has 
become so common that it has dropped from the " parole of 
literary men." 

182 : 25. Poor Dodd. Dodd had previously lost his posi- 
tion as Court Chaplain because he had offered a bribe of 
three thousand guineas to Lord Bathurst, the Great Seal, 
for the living of St. George's, Hanover Square. This Earl 
of Chesterfield was the fifth. Johnson's famous letter con- 



^ 



NOTES 375 

cerning the dedication of the Dictionary was written to the 
fourth Earl. See p. 184. 

190 : 6. landing at Icolmkill. 

"'We are now treading that illustrious island, which was once the 
luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and rov- 
ing barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings 
of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be 
impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were 
possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, 
whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate 
over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. 
Far from me, and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy, as 
may conduct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground which 
has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. The man is little 
to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain 
of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the 
ruins of Iona.' Had our tour produced nothing else but this sub- 
lime passage, the world must have acknowledged that it was not 
made in vain. Sir Joseph Banks, the present respectable President 
of the Royal Society, told me, he was so much struck on reading it, 
that he clasped his hands together, and remained for some time in 
an attitude of silent admiration." — Boswell. 

191 : 20. his talk is of bullocks. Boswell's note is : 
" Ecclesiasticus, chap, xxxviii, v. 25. The whole chapter 
may be read as an admirable illustration of the superiority 
of cultivated minds over the gross and illiterate." How a 
great mind makes sport of dulness is shown in Johnson's 
letters to Mrs. Thrale : "I have seen the great bull, and very 
great he is. I have likewise seen his heir apparent who 
promises to enherit all the bulk and all the virtues of his sire. 
I have seen the man who offered a hundred guineas for the 
young bull, while he was yet little better than a calf. The 
great bull has no disease but age. I hope in time to be like 
the great bull ; and hope you will be like him too, a hundred 
years hence. There has been a man here to-day to take a 



376 NOTES 

farm. After some talk he went to see the bull, and said that 
" he had seen a bigger. Do you think he is likely to get the 
farm? We hate the man that had seen a bigger bull." 

202 : 7. since it first came out. Plainly, for once, Dr. 
Johnson had not " stopped to count." 

203 : 4. F. Mowbray Morris has the following note : — 

" The Club. Croker has found, from the books, that the members 
present were Johnson (president), Burke, Boswell, Dr. Fordyce, 
Gibbon, Reynolds, Lord Upper Ossory, and Sheridan. He has 
guessed at the initials, but in his own confession very vaguely. 
We may assume, however, that R. stands for Reynolds, F. for For- 
dyce, and E. for Edmund Burke." 

207 : 23. freeman of Aberdeen. To Dr. Johnson on the 
occasion of his visit had been granted the freedom of the city, 
a seat of the woollen industry. 

212 : 3. yrjpda-K€Lv To learn as one grows older. 

214 : 30. freni strictio. Tightening of the rein or bit. 

219 : 25. hang out a helmet. The helmet had been used 
in parts of Europe as the sign of an inn. 

222 : 3. Veniam petimus. We beg indulgence and we grant 
it in our turn. 

222 : 16. Maccaronick verse. " Swaggerer " comes near 
to the meaning of maccaroon. Cf. Yankee Doodle. Brewer, 
in the Handbook of Phrase and Fable, says that a club of 
maccaroons introduced Italian maccaroni at Almacks. 

231: 1. Vidit et erubuit. The boy was Crawshaw, one of 
the minor poets. " The crystal water blushed when she saw 
„ the Master." " I tell a tale of wonder. The sun sank, but 
no night followed." 

232 : 37. miror magis. I feel more admiration than envy. 

233 : 32. Psalmanazar. He had " made himself public " 
by an autobiography in which he pretended to be a native of 
Formosa converted to Christianity. On the strength of this 

J 



NOTES 377 

story lie got himself sent to Oxford by some zealots who hoped 
he would influence young men to go to Formosa as mission- 
aries. Once at Oxford among noble traditions and gentle asso- 
ciates, he became converted in earnest. See Dr. Hill, III. 
App. A. 

237 : 6. Lege solutus. Saved by the law and carried on 
the shoulders of the multitude. 

237: 19. aux choux. A "politician" even as to the most 
trivial and insignificant details. 

239 : 35. Greek colony. The controversy roused by Wolfe 
has not yet been terminated. Andrew Lang had little respect 
for the " critical sagacity " that would make all that is non- 
Homeric appear as post-Homeric. Homer was often writing, 
he thinks, of a No-man's land, and what is not Attic or not 
Ionic may be of iEgean tradition. 

240:17. poetical prose. What "faults" would Dr. 
Johnson have found in the work of Butcher and Lang, or of 
Professor Palmer? 

241 : 21. talk of runts. Dr. Johnson confessed to Mrs. 
Thrale his pleasure upon hearing some one say after a fox- 
hunt at Brighthelmstone, " Why, Johnson rides as well, for 
aught I see, as any illiterate fellow in England." 

248 : 9. by seniority. From its Aldermen. 

248 : 8. Hummums : public baths. 

248:31. Milton and Locke. While Milton defined "a 
complete and generous education as that which fits a man to 
perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices, 
both public and private, of peace and war," yet the training 
was to come through the intellect rather than, as according 
to Locke's scheme, through the sympathies. 

249 : 31. Poll. Miss Carmichael. 

250 : 2. Empress of Russia. Catherine II, although, 
. strictly speaking, not a connoisseur, nevertheless enjoyed 



378 NOTES 

patronizing " art and letters throughout Europe, and added 
enormously to the Russian imperial collections. 

256 : 10. small experiments. Johnson had to be watched 
at Streatham lest he set the house on fire. His wig, usually 
burned down in front to the very netting, was so unfit for 
" company " that Mr. Thrale's valet kept a special one to 
be adjusted on the Doctor's head before his entrance to din- 
ner or the drawing-room. 

257 : 25. with great rapture. Cowper said that Pope was 
utterly deficient in a taste for Homer. 

258 : 17. places of residence. 

" (1) Exeter Street, off Catherine Street, Strand. (2) Greenwich. 
(3) Woodstock Street, near Hanover Square. (4) Castle Street, 
Cavendish Square, No. 6. (5) Strand. (6) Boswell Court. (7) Strand, 
again. (8) Bow Street. (9) Holborn. (10) Fetter Lane. (11) Hol- 
bum, again. (12) Gough Square. (13) Staple Inn. (14) Gray's 
Inn. (15) Inner Temple Lane, No. 1. (16) Johnson's Court, No. 7. 
(17) Bolt Court, No. 8." — Boswell. 

261 : 7. Queeney. Esther Thrale. 

266 : 31. The Sicilian Gossips. The 15th Idyl of Theoc- 
ritus, translated by Matthew Arnold. 

275 : 10. Saxon k. Boswell says : — 

"I hope the authority of the great Master of our language will 
stop that curtailing innovation, by which we see critic, public, &c, 
frequently written instead of critick, publick, &c." 

But as the k has rightfully no place in these and similar 
words derived from the Latin, there are two points against 
him. 

284 : 32. Mr. Perkins. 

1 ■ Mr. Perkins was for a number of years the worthy superintendent 
of Mr. Thrale's great brewery, and after his death became one of 
the Proprietors of it; and now resides in Mr. Thrale's house in 
Southwark, which was the scene of so many literary meetings, and 



NOTES 379 

in which he continues the liberal hospitality for which it was emi- 
nent. Dr. Johnson esteemed him much. He hung up in the count- 
ing-house a fine proof of the admirable mezzotinto of Dr. Johnson, 
by Doughty ; and when Mrs. Thrale asked him somewhat flippantly, 
' Why do you put him up in the counting-house ? ' He answered, 
'Because, Madam, I wish to have one wise man there.' 'Sir, 
(said Johnson), I thank you. It is a very handsome compliment, 
and I believe you speak sincerely.' " — Boswell. 

286 : 3. dreams of avarice. In one of Dr. Johnson's 
" Letters to Mrs. Piozzi," he mentions a sum of £14,000 
which the Thrales had just received. " If I had money- 
enough, what would I do? Perhaps, if you and Master did 
not hold me, I might go to Cairo and down the Red Sea to 
Bengal, and take a ramble in India. Would this be better 
than building and planting? It would surely give more 
variety to the eye and more amplitude to the mind. Half 
fourteen thousand would send me out to see other forms of 
existence and bring me back to describe them." 

287 : 25. preaching Mrs. Hall. A sister of the Wesleys. 

289 : 36. perceiving the application. The House had 
expelled him ; the law had reinstated him. 

292:5. cui bono, non ^st tanti. What's the use? — 
literally, for whose good? It's not worth while. 

292 : 14. Johnson and Shebbeare. Shebbeare was pil- 
loried and pensioned within seven years. Boswell' s note is : 
" I recollect a ludicrous paragraph in the newspapers, that 
the king had pensioned both a He-bear and a She-bear." 

296 : 30. ministry is removed. In 1782, after Yorktown, 
North was succeeded by Rockingham, " out " since 1766. 

298 : 28. To Boswell. Boswell's father had just died. The 
two had not lived in fondness. Boswell was in debt and 
alarmed over his wife's failing health. Johnson advised him 
to be kind to the old servants, to live without extravagance, 
but to " spare no expense that can preserve Mrs. Boswell." 



380 NOTES 

299 : 31. Templo valedixi. Johnson's tenderness and grati- 
tude toward the Thrales is everywhere apparent. When 
one of the three remaining daughters died, he wrote to Mrs. 
Thrale : " I loved her, for she was Thrale's and yours, and 
by her dear father's appointment, in some sort mine. . . . 
I love you all and therefore can not without regret see the 
phalanx broken and reflect that you and my other dear girls 
are deprived of one that was born your friend. To such 
friends everyone that has them has recourse at last when it 
is discovered — and discovered it seldom fails to be, that the 
fortuitous friendships of inclination or vanity are at the 
mercy of a thousand accidents." 

303 : 33. Ingens Ingenium. A mighty intellect resides 
within this ungainly body. 

306 : 7. to draw spectators. Yet, more than once when 
the Wesleys desired to talk in prison with the condemned 
who had asked to see them, permission was refused. 

309:14. Somerset Place. "Mr. Lowe's performance," 
said to be a wretched piece of art, was hung in the gallery on 
a wall by itself 7 

311 : 23. extravagantly expensive. Walpole wrote indig- 
nantly : " It is confounding the immense space between pleas- 
ing talents and national services." The undertaker, unpaid, 
was ruined. 

315:5. "Cecilia." Dr. Hill, IV. 258, has this note: 
" Macaulay maintained that Johnson had a hand in the com- 
position of ' Cecilia.' He quoted a passage from it and said, 
— ' We say with confidence, either Sam Johnson or the Devil.' 
That he was wrong is shown by Mme. D'Arblay's Diary. 
* Ay,' cried Dr. Johnson, ' some people want to make out 
some credit to me from the little rogue's book. ... I 
never saw a word of it before it was printed.' " 

317: 5. The gout. He wrote to Mrs. Thrale: " I enjoy 



NOTES 381 

all the dignity of lameness. I receive ladies and dismiss 
them sitting. Painful preeminence.'" 

323 : 20. rough in conversation. " What would you give," 
asked a pert fellow at a dinner, " to be as young and brisk 
as I am? " "I would be content to be almost as foolish." 
. . . When talking in one of the college halls, he was fre- 
quently interrupted by one of the masters with " I deny 
that." At last Johnson turned to him and said, " Sir, you 
have forgotten: 'Plus negabit units asimus in una hora quam 
centum philosophi probaverint in centum annis.' "... An- 
other young gentleman asked him, " Dr. Johnson, would you 
advise me to marry? " "I would advise no one to marry," 
was the answer, " who is not likely to propagate understand- 
ing." Then, as if to make amends, he gave a most wonderful 
talk on marriage. It is plain that those who wished Johnson 
to talk would submit to almost any rebuffs if they hoped at last 
to " draw him out." Some one tried to excuse an inquisitive 
young man on the ground that doubtless he had come to be 
cured of his ignorance. " His ignorance," said Johnson, " is 
so deep that I am afraid to show him the bottom of it." He 
said to Mrs. Thrale : " It moves my indignation to be con- 
stantly applied to to speak well of a thing which I think 
contemptible." Dr. Hill quotes Sir Joshua Reynolds : 
" His obstinate silence whilst all the company were in rap- 
tures vying with each other who should pepper highest was 
considered rudeness and ill-nature." Lord Elibank said 
at the age of seventy that he would gladly travel five hundred 
miles for a single day in Dr. Johnson's company. " There 
had once been a pretty smart altercation," says Boswell, 
" between Dr. Barnard and him, upon a question, whether a 
man could improve himself after the age of forty-five ; when 
Johnson, in a hasty humour, expressed himself in a manner 
not quite civil. Dr. Barnard made it the subject of a copy of 



i 



382 2T0TES 

pleasant verses, in which he supposed himself to learn differ- 
ent perfections from different men. They concluded with 
-delicate irony : — 

" ' Johnson shall| teach me how to place 
Io^airest lighfteach borrowed grace; 
Fsom hini iff learn to write : 
' Copy his clear familiar style, 
And by the roughness of his file 
Grow, like himsetf, polite.' " 

328-: 7. Milton's poor Sonnets. The eighteenth-century 
- ' view. . 

; 329 : 13. mollia tempora fandi. " The Latin may be 
made out from the English" 5 mollify and infant. 

333 : 29. conge d'elire. t^he paradoxical command to 
dean and chapter to elect as : their bishop one whose name 
had been decided upon by kin§ or court. 

339:31. Presto's supper. The terrier once refused to 
yield his place on the hearth rug to Dr. Johnson. " Presto,' ' 
said the Dictator, " you will soon be as lazy a dog as I am." 

340 : 12. the air balloon. There was a furore, then, as 
iiow, over the conquest of the air. 

341 : 15. dinner was publick. Any one sociably " possible " 
might present himself without invitation. 

341 : 31. expiatory. Johnson_went on the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of his disobedience. 

345 : 28. Te teneam moriens. My dying hand clings to 
thine. Langton had taken lodgings in the neighborhood so 
as to be at Johnson's call in the last hours. 

347 : 26. renowned edifice. The funeral services were so 
simple — without music — that Sir John Haw^kins, the exec- 
utor, came in for much criticism. Dean Stanley calls atten- 
I tion to the fact that not many feet distant from Dr. Johnson 
lies his arch-adversary, Macpherson. 



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